Reading Cristal Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
by Nichole Monroe
Summary: Book 5 of the Series. Follow Cris and the gang as they start the fifth book and soon learn the future. How will they react for the trial? The detentions with Umbrige? And much more. Read and find out. GirlHarry! Cris/Twins, Ron/Hermione, Luna/Draco, Ginny/Neville
1. Prologue

Cris was lying awake in bed afraid to go to sleep, afraid that she'll visit the graveyard once again. She was lying there listening to the deep breathing of the girls around her. Once she was sure they were fast asleep she got up and walked to the room where Fred and George were waiting for her. She smiled as she climbed into bed in between them.

"Are you alright Bambi?" Fred asked as he wrapped his arms around her.

"No, I'm scared." Cris said tears coming to her eyes. George leaned up and kissed her deeply.

"Don't worry about it, we're here to block those big nasty nightmares away." George said. Cris nodded and laid her head down on his chest. George wrapped his arms around her as well and pretty soon they all were asleep.

The next morning Cris was woken up by the door opening again to see Sirius standing there with a small smile on his face. Cris untangled herself from the warm embrace of her boys and got out of bed.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"It's still early pup; want to tell me why you were in bed with Fred and George?" Sirius asked as he led her to the couches.

"They keep the nightmares at bay." Cris said pulling her legs up and wrapping her arms around them. Sirius sighed and pulled her against him and gave her a hug and kissed her head.

"Why not take the dreamless sleep potion then?" he asked.

"It can be addictive, and I can deal with them." Cris said. Sirius sighed, he should have realized she would know that so he tried something else.

"Want to help me make breakfast?" Sirius asked. Cris' face lit up and almost ran to the kitchen.

Pretty soon the rest of the group got up to the smell of sausage and bacon cooking and staggered out of their rooms. Mrs. Weasley went to the kitchen and almost laughed. What she saw was Cris and Sirius almost covered head to toe in flour. They turned when they heard her laughing.

"He/She started it!" they said pointing at each other. Soon Remus, Robin, Lily, Padfoot, Prongs, Moony, Fred and George were standing there laughing along with Mrs. Weasley.

"That's why you don't cook with Sirius." Remus said. Cris pouted then gasped and turned around to flip a pancake. Mrs. Weasley stepped forward and took the spatula from her.

"Go on dear, I'll finish up while you two get cleaned up." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Alright, The bowl of pancake batter is right there, I have sausage and bacon almost done and the eggs just need to be cooked." Cris said. Mrs. Weasley nodded as Sirius and Cris left the room to take a shower. Ron and Hermione were shocked as the two passed but didn't say anything to them.

"Why is Cris and Sirius covered in flour?" Hermione asked.

"They were cooking and I believe Sirius was just trying to get her to laugh." Remus said.

"He's good at that." Lily said. Soon breakfast was done and they all were eating.

After breakfast they gathered in the main room again to see another note on top of the fifth book.

_Dear Everyone,_

_Now you'll be on the fifth book. Just to be warned from here on they do get darker. We are just warning you for now, now I know the first half of this book is in the past but the latter is in the future. Have fun and I will stress what my cousin said before: you cannot take away points and please if you haven't already give your wands to Dumbledore, we don't want any maiming of some people there with you. Have fun._

_Dominique Isabelle Weasley_

"Thanks for the reminder Dom." James said loudly.

"James, she can't hear you." Cris said.

"How do you know that?" James asked with a smile.

"Anyway, who's turn is it to read?" Robin asked.

"Me," Prongs said picking up the book. **"Cristal Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." **


	2. Chapter 1: Dudley Demented

"**Chapter 1: Dudley Demented," **Prongs read.

Cris shivered at that and the twins wrapped her up for this chapter.

"So we get to find out exactly what happened." Robin said.

"I'm thinking yes," Remus said.

**The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive. Cars that were usually gleaming stood dusty in their drives and lawns that were once emerald green lay parched and yellowing; the use of hosepipes had been banned due to drought. Deprived of their usual car-washing and lawn-mowing pursuits, the inhabitants of Privet Drive had retreated into the shade of their cool houses, windows thrown wide in the hope of tempting in a nonexistent breeze. The only person left outdoors was a teenage girl who was lying flat on her back in a flowerbed outside number four.**

"Cris why were you lying in the flower bed?" Hermione asked.

"To listen to the news." Cris said with a shrug.

"Alright then," Hermione said uncertainly.

**She was a skinny, black-haired, bespectacled girl who had the pinched, slightly unhealthy look of someone who has grown a lot in a short space of time.**

"Finally a growth spurt." Cris said.

"So when did you get rid of the glasses?" Sirius asked.

"Soon," Cris said sharing a smile with Gwen who smiled back at her.

**Her jeans were torn and dirty, her T-shirt baggy and faded, and the soles of her trainers were peeling away from the uppers. Cristal Potter's appearance did not endear her to the neighbors, who were the sort of people who thought scruffiness ought to be punishable by law, but as she had hidden herself behind a large hydrangea bush this evening she was quite invisible to passers-by. In fact, the only way she would be spotted was if her Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia stuck their heads out of the living-room window and looked straight down into the flowerbed below.**

"Which they won't do." Cris said.

**On the whole, Cris thought she was to be congratulated on her idea of hiding here. **

"CONGRATULATIONS!" yelled the pranksters.

"This already happened." Cris said.

"Ruin our fun won't you Bambi." Fred said.

"Yep," Cris said.

**She was not, perhaps, very comfortable lying on the hot, hard earth but, on the other hand, nobody was glaring at her, grinding their teeth so loudly that she could not hear the news, or shooting nasty questions at her, as had happened every time she had tried sitting down in the living room to watch television with her aunt and uncle. Though the only fun she had this summer was with her friend Gwen. In fact she had invited her to go shopping with her in a few days ago, her shoulder was still sore from the tattoo she had gotten. It was a black stag head with lilies hanging off its antlers but had a red lily hanging from its mouth and had a green stem. Every time she looked at it in the mirror it brought tears to her eyes as she thought of her parents. She even got rid of the dreadful glasses and got contacts, which took getting used to.**

"That was a lot of fun." Gwen said.

"Yeah," Cris said with a smile.

"That was a sweet gesture, but you shouldn't have gotten it in the first place." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Mum has a few more than that one." James said.

"I do?" Cris asked.

"Yep, you have a cross at the base of your neck with names Kit, Moony, Padfoot and Prongs on it and you have an anklet that has all of our names under a flower with our favorite color on it." Lily J said.

"That's sweet." Robin said.

**Almost as though this thought had fluttered through the open window, Vernon Dursley, Cris' uncle, suddenly spoke.**

**"Glad to see the girl's stopped trying to butt in. Where is she, anyway?"**

**"I don't know," said Aunt Petunia, unconcerned. "Not in the house."**

"Oh yeah, she is perfectly safe in that house." McGonagall said with a glare to the headmaster. Dumbledore looked down; he didn't expect that things would be this bad.

**Uncle Vernon grunted.**

**"Watching the news…" he said scathingly. "I'd like to know what he's really up to. As if a normal boy cares what's on the news - Dudley hasn't got a clue what's going on; doubt he knows who the Prime Minister is! **

"And they're proud of that?" Lily asked.

"Well, who is the Muggle Prime Minister?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"John Major," Gwen, Hermione and Cris said.

"Harold Wilson," Lily and Moony said.

"Which is it?" Padfoot asked.

"John Major is the Minister at the present time and Harold Wilson is in your time." Cris said.

"Oh,"

**Anyway, it's not as if there'd be anything about her lot on our news–"**

**"Vernon, shh!" said Aunt Petunia. "The window's open!"**

"Is that all they care about? What the neighbors think?" Tonks asked. Gwen and Cris looked at each other.

"Pretty much," they said together.

"Stupid people." Ginny said.

**"Oh - yes - sorry, dear."**

**The Dursley's fell silent. Cris listened to a jingle about Fruit 'n' Bran breakfast cereal while she watched Mrs. Figg, a batty cat-loving old lady from nearby Wisteria Walk, amble slowly past.**

"I wish I knew she's a squib." Cris said grumbling.

"I know, but she was keeping a look out for you." Dumbledore said.

"Obviously not a very good job of it either." McGonagall said.

**She was frowning and muttering to herself. **

**Cris was very pleased she was concealed behind the bush, as Mrs. Figg had recently taken to asking her around for tea whenever she met her in the street. She had rounded the corner and vanished from view before Uncle Vernon's voice floated out of the window again.**

**"Dudders out for tea?"**

**"At the Polkisses'," said Aunt Petunia fondly. "He's got so many little friends, he's so popular."**

Gwen and Cris snorted.

"Yeah right, the day he's popular is the day that the Dursley's actually treat me like a girl and not a freak." Cris said.

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen anytime soon." Gwen said.

**Cris suppressed a snort with difficulty. The Dursley's really were astonishingly stupid about their son, Dudley. They had swallowed all his dim-witted lies about having tea with a different member of his gang every night of the summer holidays. Cris knew perfectly well that Dudley had not been to tea anywhere; he and his gang spent every evening vandalizing the play park, smoking on street corners and throwing stones at passing cars and children. **

"Well, nobody said that he was smart." Gwen said.

"Remind me again how he and Hannah got together." Cris said.

"He's lost a lot of weight by the time you, dad and papa got married." James said.

"Alright." Cris said.

**Cris had seen them at it during her evening walks around Little Whinging with Gwen; she had spent most of the holidays wandering the streets, scavenging newspapers from bins along the way. Gwen thought she was crazy but didn't comment on it. Gwen has gotten used to some of the strange things that Cris has done over the years. **

"That's true," Gwen said with a laugh.

"Oi," Cris exclaimed.

"Why were you stealing newspapers though?" Sirius asked.

"Trying to find out more on Voldemort." Cris said.

"Yeah, the Prophet wouldn't really say anything about him but anything strange definitely." Bill said.

**The opening notes of the music that heralded the seven o'clock news reached Cris' ears and her stomach turned over. Perhaps tonight - after a month of waiting - would be the night.**

**"Record numbers of stranded holiday makers fill air ports as the Spanish baggage-handlers' strike reaches its second week –"**

**"Give 'em a lifelong siesta, I would," snarled Uncle Vernon over the end of the newsreader's sentence, but no matter: outside in the flowerbed, Cris' stomach seemed to unclench. If anything had happened, it would surely have been the first item on the news; death and destruction were more important than stranded holidaymakers. **

"No news is good news." Gwen said.

"Sometimes." Cris said.

**She let out a long, slow breath and stared up at the brilliant blue sky. Every day this summer had been the same: the tension, the expectation, the temporary relief, and then mounting tension again… and always, growing more insistent all the time, the question of why nothing had happened yet.**

**She kept listening, just in case there was some small clue, not recognized for what it really was by the Muggles - an unexplained disappearance, perhaps, or some strange accident… but the baggage-handlers' strike was followed by news about the drought in the Southeast ("I hope he's listening next door!" bellowed Uncle Vernon. "Him with his sprinklers on at three in the morning!"), **

"Like you've never cheated before." Bill said.

"He has," Cris said, "Probably to help his son get through school."

"Most likely." Hermione said.

**then a helicopter that had almost crashed in a field in Surrey, then a famous actress's divorce from her famous husband ("As if we're interested in their sordid affairs," sniffed Aunt Petunia, who had followed the case obsessively in every magazine she could lay her bony hands on).**

**Cris closed her eyes against the now blazing evening sky as the newsreader said, "-and finally, Bungy the budgie has found a novel way of keeping cool this summer. Bungy, who lives at the Five Feathers in Barnsley, has learned to water ski! Mary Dorkins went to find out more."**

"Like we really care about that." Bill said.

"Very true," Cris said with a smile.

**Cris opened her eyes. If they had reached water-skiing budgerigars, there would be nothing else worth hearing. She rolled cautiously on to her front and raised herself on to her knees and elbows, preparing to crawl out from under the window.**

**She had moved about two inches when several things happened in very quick succession.**

**A loud, echoing crack broke the sleepy silence like a gunshot; **

Several people growled under their breath at the mention of Dung.

"Someone Disapparated." Padfoot said.

"What's that?" Gwen asked.

"It's kind of like teleportation." Hermione said.

"Oh,"

**a cat streaked out from under a parked car and flew out of sight; a shriek, a bellowed oath and the sound of breaking china came from the Dursley's living room, and as though this was the signal Cris had been waiting for she jumped to her feet, at the same time pulling from the waistband of her jeans a thin wooden wand as if she were unsheathing a sword - **

"Well at least you're ready to defend yourself." Sirius said.

"Well it could have been anyone." Cris said.

"Very true," Remus said.

**but before she could draw herself up to full height, the top of her head collided with the Dursley's open window.**

Cris rubbed the spot on her head at the memory of that.

"Ouch," the group said. Fred and George each took turns kissing the spot where her head collided with the window sill.

**The resultant crash made Aunt Petunia scream even louder.**

**Cris felt as though her head had been split in two. Eyes streaming, she swayed, trying to focus on the street to spot the source of the noise, but she had barely staggered upright when two large purple hands reached through the open window and closed tightly around her throat.**

"He did what!?" the group asked.

"Next time we meet I'll kill him." Remus muttered under his breath.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Hermione asked.

"I kind of forgot." Cris said sheepishly.

"How can you forget something like?" Lily asked.

"Because of what happened later." Cris said. Then the Order remembered what happened and paled.

**"Put - it-away!" Uncle Vernon snarled into Cris' ear. "Now! Before- anyone - sees!"**

**"Get - off - me!" Cris gasped. For a few seconds they struggled, Cris pulling at her uncle's sausage-like fingers with her left hand, her right maintaining a firm grip on her raised wand; then, as the pain in the top of Cris' head gave a particularly nasty throb, Uncle Vernon yelped and released Cris as though he had received an electric shock. Some invisible force seemed to have surged through his niece, making her impossible to hold.**

"More accidental magic at your age?" Lily asked curiously.

"Actually I think it may be wandless." Dumbledore said.

"She is very powerful," Remus said. Cris blushed and hid her face in George's shirt.

**Panting, Cris fell forwards over the hydrangea bush, straightened up and stared around. There was no sign of what had caused the loud cracking noise, but there were several faces peering through various nearby windows. Cris stuffed her wand hastily back into her jeans and tried to look innocent.**

"Yeah right, that look is too much like James to do that." Sirius said. Cris pouted but didn't say anything else.

**"Lovely evening!" shouted Uncle Vernon, waving at Mrs. Number Seven, who was glaring from behind her net curtains. "Did you hear that car backfire just now? Gave Petunia and me quite a turn!"**

"Well that is an easy explanation of apparition." Bill said.

**He continued to grin in a horrible, manic way until all the curious neighbors had disappeared from their various windows, then the grin became a grimace of rage as he beckoned Cris back towards him.**

**Cris moved a few steps closer, taking care to stop just short of the point at which Uncle Vernon's outstretched hands could resume their strangling**

"That's smart." Robin said.

**"What the devil do you mean by it, girl?" asked Uncle Vernon in a croaky voice that trembled with fury.**

**"What do I mean by what?" said Cris coldly. She kept looking left and right up the street, still hoping to see the person who had made the cracking noise.**

"No he's long gone." Sirius growled wishing that Dung was there so he can strangle him some more.

**"Making a racket like a starting pistol right outside our –"**

**"I didn't make that noise," said Cris firmly.**

**Aunt Petunia's thin, horsy face now appeared beside Uncle Vernon's wide, purple one. She looked livid.**

**"Why were you lurking under our window?"**

**"Yes - yes, good point, Petunia! What were you doing under our window, girl?"**

**"Listening to the news," said Cris in a resigned voice.**

**His aunt and uncle exchanged looks of outrage.**

**"Listening to the news! Again?"**

**"Well, it changes every day, you see," said Cris. **

"Oh dear, my cheek is showing again." Lily said.

"That was very Lily-like." Prongs said.

"Dad says that we all have it." James said.

"Great," McGonagall said with a groan, she will have to deal with them.

**"Don't you be clever with me, girl! I want to know what you're really up to - and don't give me any more of this listening to the news tosh! You know perfectly well that your lot -"**

**"Careful, Vernon!" breathed Aunt Petunia, and Uncle Vernon lowered his voice so that Cris could barely hear him, "-that your lot don't get on our news!"**

**"That's all you know," said Cris.**

**The Dursley's goggled at girl for a few seconds, then Aunt Petunia said, "You're a nasty little liar. What are all those -" she, too, lowered her voice so that Cris had to lip-read the next word, "- owls doing if they're not bringing you news?"**

"Well the Prophet is covering everything up so," Charlie said with a shrug.

"Some of them were the letters from Sirius, Remus, Ron and Hermione." Cris said.

**"Aha!" said Uncle Vernon in a triumphant whisper. "Get out of that one, girl! As if we didn't know you get all your news from those pestilential birds!"**

**Cris hesitated for a moment. It cost her something to tell the truth this time, even though her aunt and uncle could not possibly know how bad she felt at admitting it.**

**"The owls… aren't bringing me news," she said tonelessly.**

**"I don't believe it," said Aunt Petunia at once.**

**"No more do I," said Uncle Vernon forcefully.**

"I don't think she gives a damn." Remus said.

"Not in the slightest." Cris said.

**"We know you're up to something funny," said Aunt Petunia.**

**"We're not stupid, you know," said Uncle Vernon.**

"Could have fooled me." Ginny said.

"They are, they just don't realize it." Cris said.

**"Well, that's news to me," said Cris, her temper rising, and before the Dursley's could call her back, she had wheeled about, crossed the front lawn, stepped over the low garden wall and was striding off up the street.**

**She was in trouble now and she knew it. She would have to face her aunt and uncle later and pay the price for her rudeness, but she did not care very much just at the moment; she had much more pressing matters on her mind.**

**Cris was sure the cracking noise had been made by someone Apparating or Disapparating. It was exactly the sound Dobby the house-elf made when he vanished into thin air. Was it possible that Dobby was here in Privet Drive? **

"So that actually was a house-elf?" Fudge asked.

"Yes it was and I tricked Mr. Malfoy to free him at the end of my second year." Cris said. Fudge looked surprised, but then again it's not easy for a child to trick an adult, it must have been brilliant.

**Could Dobby be following her right at this very moment?**

**As this thought occurred she wheeled around and stared back down Privet Drive, but it appeared to be completely deserted and Cris was sure that Dobby did not know how to become invisible. **

"That's one of the few things they can't do." Ron said.

"I know," Cris said.

"**Cris!" yelled a voice coming from behind her. She stopped and turned to see Gwen running towards her. Cris smiled her mood vanishing as she saw her Muggle Friend. Gwen stopped in front of her and put her hands on her hips. **

"**Why are you wearing those clothes again? There is a reason we bought you new clothes." Gwen said. Cris smiled and laughed. **

"**I was hiding in the rose bushes." Cris said. **

"**Let me guess, your aunt and uncle didn't want you to listen to the news?" Gwen suggested. Cris nodded and Gwen sighed. "I don't know why you need to know but hey I won't question it. So how's your shoulder?" **

"**It's good, sore but I'm used to pain." Cris said with a shrug.**

"**Cris, I don't even want to know why you know that. So I wondered why you chose the deer and lilies?" she asked. **

"**My mum's name is Lily and my dad had a thing for deers." Cris said not going into detail about how her dad could turn into a stag, let alone explain magic to her Muggle friend. **

"**Gwen!" her mum called. **

"**Got to go Cris, stay out of trouble, alright." She said. **

"**I'll try, but trouble often finds me." Cris said. She watched as her friend disappear into her house. Her mood returned after she left. **

"Yeah, I'm glad you didn't explain that whole thing to me." Gwen said.

"Yeah, you probably would have avoided me for the rest of your life." Cris said.

"I don't know, you are pretty hard to get rid of as a friend." Gwen said.

"Yep," Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Neville and the twins said.

**She walked on, hardly aware of the route she was taking, for she had pounded these streets so often lately that her feet carried her to her favorite haunts automatically. **

**Every few steps she glanced back over her shoulder. Someone magical had been near her as she lay among Aunt Petunia's dying begonias, she was sure of it. Why hadn't they spoken to her, why hadn't they made contact, why were they hiding now?**

"Yeah, thanks to Dung she's onto the protective detail." Remus said.

"I had one all summer?" Cris asked. They nodded and Gwen had an interesting question.

"So who was following us the day we went to London?" Gwen asked.

"I think it was Diggle." Kingsley said.

"I wonder why he didn't tell us about that trip." Remus said.

**And then, as her feeling of frustration peaked, her certainty leaked away.**

**Perhaps it hadn't been a magical sound after all. Perhaps she was so desperate for the tiniest sign of contact from the world to which she belonged that she was simply overreacting to perfectly ordinary noises. Could she be sure it hadn't been the sound of something breaking inside a neighbor's house?**

**Cris felt a dull, sinking sensation in her stomach and before she knew it the feeling of hopelessness that had plagued her all summer rolled over her once again.**

**Tomorrow morning she would be woken by the alarm at five o'clock so she could pay the owl that delivered the Daily Prophet - but was there any point continuing to take it? Cris merely glanced at the front page before throwing it aside these days; when the idiots who ran the paper finally realized that Voldemort was back it would be headline news, and that was the only kind Cris cared about.**

"Yeah, the other stuff would just make you mad." Hermione said.

"Yeah, I don't really want to see her mad again." Ron said.

**If she was lucky, there would also be owls carrying letters from her best friends Ron and Hermione, though any expectation she'd had that their letters would bring her news had long since been dashed.**

"Sorry," Ron and Hermione said.

"Why aren't you bringing her news?" Lily asked.

"We weren't able to." Hermione said.

"And why not?" Prongs asked.

"Dumbledore said we couldn't." Ron said. The parents turned to glare at the headmaster.

"I assure you, it's for a good reason." Dumbledore said.

"It better be." They said.

**We can't say much about you-know-what, obviously… We've been told not to say anything important in case our letters go astray… We're quite busy but I can't give you details here…**

**There's a fair amount going on, we'll tell you everything when we see you…**

**But when were they going to see her? Nobody seemed too bothered with a precise date. **

"It's because we didn't know." Hermione said.

"Though I wish we got to her sooner." Sirius said.

"We all do." Remus said.

**Hermione had scribbled I expect we'll be seeing you quite soon inside her birthday card, but how soon was soon? As far as Cris could tell from the vague hints in their letters, Hermione and Ron were in the same place, presumably at Ron's parents' house. **

"Nope," they said together.

"Then where are you?" Lily asked.

"You'll see," they said.

**She could hardly bear to think of the pair of them having fun at The Burrow when she was stuck in Privet Drive. In fact, she was so angry with them she had thrown away, unopened, the two boxes of Honeydukes chocolates they'd sent her for her birthday. **

"Hey!" they said. Cris looked down.

"I know, I was just mad, I was stuck at a place that I'm not welcome at and I had no idea what was going on. I regretted throwing it away later." Cris said.

"At least you regretted it." Ron said.

**She'd regretted it later, after the wilted salad Aunt Petunia had provided for dinner that night.**

**And what were Ron and Hermione busy with? Why wasn't she, Cris, busy? Hadn't she proved herself capable of handling much more than them? Had they all forgotten what she had done?**

**Hadn't it been she who had entered that graveyard and watched Cedric being murdered, and been tied to that tombstone and nearly killed? **

"Um, you're going to be hearing my inner rant so, I'm sorry." Cris said.

"It's okay," Hermione and Ginny said.

**Don't think about that, Cris told herself sternly for the hundredth time that summer. It was bad enough that she kept revisiting the graveyard in her nightmares, without dwelling on it in her waking moments too.**

**She turned a corner into Magnolia Crescent; halfway along she passed the narrow alleyway down the side of a garage where she had first clapped eyes on her godfather. Sirius, at least, seemed to understand how Cris was feeling. Admittedly, her letters were just as empty of proper news as Ron and Hermione's, but at least they contained words of caution and consolation instead of tantalizing hints:**

**I know this must be frustrating for you… Keep your nose clean and everything will be okay… Be careful and don't do anything rash…**

The marauders laughed at that.

"I've never thought I'd see the day that Sirius was giving advice like that." Prongs said.

"Well, it's Cris, I'd do anything for her." Sirius said.

**Well, thought Cris, as she crossed Magnolia Crescent, turned into Magnolia Road and headed towards the darkening play park, she had (by and large) done as Sirius advised. She had at least resisted the temptation to tie her trunk to her broomstick and set off for The Burrow by herself.**

"Yeah, that would have been bad." Bill said.

**In fact, Cris thought her behavior had been very good considering how frustrated and angry she felt at being stuck in Privet Drive so long, reduced to hiding in flowerbeds in the hope of hearing something that might point to what Lord Voldemort was doing. Nevertheless, it was quite galling to be told not to be rash by a man who had served twelve years in the wizard prison, Azkaban, escaped, attempted to commit the murder he had been convicted for in the first place, then gone on the run with a stolen Hippogriff.**

"Yeah, I can see what you mean." Lily said.

"Tell me you get out of there soon though." Prongs said.

"I do," Cris said.

**Cris vaulted over the locked park gate and set off across the parched grass. The park was as empty as the surrounding streets. When she reached the swings she sank on to the only one that Dudley and his friends had not yet managed to break, coiled one arm around the chain and stared moodily at the ground. She would not be able to hide in the Dursley's flowerbed again.**

**Tomorrow, she would have to think of some fresh way of listening to the news. In the meantime, she had nothing to look forward to but another restless, disturbed night, because even when she escaped the nightmares about Cedric she had unsettling dreams about long dark corridors.**

Dumbledore looked over at Cris almost in shock then replaced his face in a neutral way.

**all finishing in dead ends and locked doors, which she supposed had something to do with the trapped feeling she had when she was awake. Often the old scar on her forehead prickled uncomfortably, **

"Well I guess it could be interpreted like that." Luna said.

"Yeah," Cris said.

**but she did not fool herself that Ron or Hermione or Sirius would find that very interesting any more. In the past, her scar hurting had warned that Voldemort was getting stronger again, but now that Voldemort was back they would probably remind her that its regular irritation was only to be expected… nothing to worry about… old news…**

**The injustice of it all welled up inside her so that she wanted to yell with fury. If it hadn't been for her, nobody would even have known Voldemort was back!**

"Which gave us a head start." Remus said.

"I know," Cris said.

**And her reward was to be stuck in Little Whinging for four solid weeks, completely cut off from the magical world, reduced to squatting among dying begonias so that she could hear about water-skiing budgerigars! How could Dumbledore have forgotten her so easily? Why had Ron and Hermione got together without inviting her along, too? **

"Leaving her there was such a smart idea!" Sirius growled at Dumbledore.

"I assure you it was the only way to keep her safe." Dumbledore said.

"Yeah, safe, is being attacked by Dementors what you call safe?" Sirius asked.

"Enough Sirius, let's just finish this chapter." Remus said.

**How much longer was she supposed to endure Sirius telling her to sit tight and be a good girl; or resist the temptation to write to the stupid Daily Prophet and point out that Voldemort had returned? These furious thoughts whirled around in Cris' head, and her insides writhed with anger as a sultry, velvety night fell around her, the air full of the smell of warm, dry grass, and the only sound that of the low grumble of traffic on the road beyond the park railings.**

**She did not know how long she had sat on the swing before the sound of voices interrupted her musings and she looked up. The streetlamps from the surrounding roads were casting a misty glow strong enough to silhouette a group of people making their way across the park. One of them was singing a loud, crude song. The others were laughing. A soft ticking noise came from several expensive racing bikes that they were wheeling along.**

"Great, it's your fat idiot of a cousin and his gang." Ginny said.

"Yeah," Cris said.

**Cris knew who those people were. The figure in front was unmistakably her cousin, Dudley Dursley, wending his way home, accompanied by his faithful gang.**

**Dudley was as vast as ever, but a year's hard dieting and the discovery of a new talent had wrought quite a change in his physique. **

"Well, I guess that's something." Moony said.

"All he had was muscle now, but I'm still faster and he's still afraid of me." Cris said.

"That's something." Padfoot said.

**As Uncle Vernon delightedly told anyone who would listen, Dudley had recently become the Junior Heavyweight Inter-School Boxing Champion of the Southeast. 'The noble sport', as Uncle Vernon called it, had made Dudley even more formidable than he had seemed to Cris in their primary school days when she had served as Dudley's first punching bag. Cris was not remotely afraid of her cousin any more but she still didn't think that Dudley learning to punch harder and more accurately was cause for celebration.**

**Neighborhood children all around were terrified of him - even more terrified than they were of 'that Potter girl who, they had been warned, was a hardened hooligan and attended St. Bernadette's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Girls.**

"Vait, vhy did they say that?" Viktor asked.

"It was a cover for where I went to Hogwarts." Cris said.

"Zat es just stupid." Fleur said.

"That's my aunt and uncle for you." Cris said with a shrug.

**Cris watched the dark figures crossing the grass and wondered who they had been beating up tonight. Look round, Cris found herself thinking as she watched them. Come on… look round… I'm sitting here all alone… come and have a go… **

"Cris, don't go looking for trouble." Lily said.

"I don't, it usually finds me." Cris said.

"That's true," the group said.

**If Dudley's friends saw her sitting here, they would be sure to make a beeline for her and what would Dudley do then? He wouldn't want to lose face in front of the gang, but he'd be terrified of provoking Cris… it would be really fun to watch Dudley's dilemma, to taunt her, watch her, with him powerless to respond… and if any of the others tried hitting Cris, she was ready - she had her wand. Let them try… she'd love to vent some of her frustration on the boys who had once made her life hell.**

"Oh Cris, as much as I love for you to do it I'd rather you didn't." Sirius said.

"I know," Cris said.

"Just wait until you're of age." Padfoot said. The group laughed at that then Prongs continued reading.

**But they didn't turn around, they didn't see her, they were almost at the railings. Cris mastered the impulse to call after them… seeking a fight was not a smart move… she must not use magic… she would be risking expulsion again.**

**The voices of Dudley's gang died away; they were out of sight, heading along Magnolia Road.**

**There you go, Sirius, Cris thought dully. Nothing rash. Kept my nose clean. Exactly the opposite of what you'd have done.**

"That is certainly true." Prongs said.

"Hey, I can be responsible when I want to be." Sirius said.

"And it seems to be the only when you have someone who is more important than yourself." Remus said.

**She got to her feet and stretched. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon seemed to feel that whenever Dudley turned up was the right time to be home, and any time after that was much too late.**

"What great parenting that is." Bill said sarcastically.

"And totally safe." Charlie said.

**Uncle Vernon had threatened to lock Cris in the shed if she came home after Dudley ever again, so, stifling a yawn, and still scowling, Cris set off towards the park gate.**

"Did he ever do that?" Sirius asked with a growl.

"Not in quite some time." Cris mumbled which made the twins growl and Sirius to scowl at the book.

**Magnolia Road, like Privet Drive, was full of large, square houses with perfectly manicured lawns, all owned by large, square owners who drove very clean cars similar to Uncle Vernon's.**

**Cris preferred Little Whinging by night, when the curtained windows made patches of jewel bright color in the darkness and she ran no danger of hearing disapproving mutters about her 'delinquent' appearance when she passed the householders. She walked quickly, so that halfway along Magnolia Road Dudley's gang came into view again; they were saying their farewells at the entrance to Magnolia Crescent. Cris stepped into the shadow of a large lilac tree and waited.**

**"… squealed like a pig, didn't he?" Malcolm was saying, to guffaws from the others.**

"Great, they're beating up someone else." Moony said with a growl.

**"Nice right hook, Big D," said Piers.**

**"Same time tomorrow?" said Dudley.**

**"Round at my place, my parents will be out," said Gordon.**

**"See you then," said Dudley.**

**"Bye, Dud!"**

**"See ya, Big D!"**

**Cris waited for the rest of the gang to move on before setting off again. When their voices had faded once more she headed around the corner into Magnolia Crescent and by walking very quickly she soon came within hailing distance of Dudley, who was strolling along at his ease, humming tunelessly.**

**"Hey, Big D!"**

"Not the brightest thing to do." Remus said.

"All her sense goes down the drain when she is pissed." Hermione said.

"Oi!"

**Dudley turned.**

**"Oh," he grunted. "It's you."**

**"How long have you been 'Big D' then?" said Cris.**

**"Shut it," snarled Dudley, turning away.**

**"Cool name," said Cris, grinning and falling into step beside his cousin. "But you'll always be 'Ickle Diddykins' to me."**

"Great, here comes your mother's side. She can be brutal when she wants to be." Prongs said.

"Yeah, that's Cris for you." Ron said.

**"I said, SHUT IT!" said Dudley, whose ham-like hands had curled into fists.**

**"Don't the boys know that's what your mum calls you?"**

**"Shut your face."**

**"You don't tell her to shut her face. What about 'Popkin' and 'Dinky Diddydums', can I use them then?"**

**Dudley said nothing. The effort of keeping himself from hitting Cris seemed to demand all his self-control.**

"Well at least that's something." Lily said.

**"So who've you been beating up tonight?" Cris asked, her grin fading. "Another ten-year-old? I know you did Mark Evans two nights ago -"**

"Evans? Is he related to me?" Lily asked.

"I don't know." Cris said with a shrug.

"He is," her kids said.

"He'll be starting Hogwarts next year." Al said.

"Cool," Cris said with a smile.

**"He was asking for it," snarled Dudley.**

**"Oh yeah?"**

**"He cheeked me."**

**"Yeah? Did he say you look like a pig that's been taught to walk on its hind legs? Cause that's not cheek, Dud, that's true."**

"Cris," groaned the room. Cris just smiled but didn't say anything else.

**A muscle was twitching in Dudley's jaw. It gave Cris enormous satisfaction to know how furious she was making Dudley; she felt as though she was siphoning off her own frustration into her cousin, the only outlet she had.**

**They turned right down the narrow alleyway where Cris had first seen Sirius and which formed a short cut between Magnolia Crescent and Wisteria Walk. It was empty and much darker than the streets it linked because there were no streetlamps. Their footsteps were muffled between garage walls on one side and a high fence on the other.**

**"Think you're a big girl carrying that thing, don't you?" Dudley said after a few seconds.**

**"What thing?"**

**"That - that thing you are hiding."**

"He can't even say wand, can he?" Lily asked.

"Nope," Cris said with a laugh.

**Cris grinned again.**

**"Not as stupid as you look, are you, Dud? But I s'pose, if you were, you wouldn't be able to walk and talk at the same time."**

**Cris pulled out her wand. She saw Dudley look sideways at it.**

**"You're not allowed," Dudley said at once. "I know you're not. You'd get expelled from that freak school you go to."**

**"How d'you know they haven't changed the rules, Big D?"**

"That's pushing it some." Remus said.

"It worked, so I'm not complaining." Cris said.

**"They haven't," said Dudley, though he didn't sound completely convinced.**

**Cris laughed softly.**

"Bolt, have I ever told you that when you do that, it's slightly creepy?" Ron asked.

"No, is it really?" Cris asked.

"Somewhat." Hermione said.

**"You haven't got the guts to take me on without that thing, have you?" Dudley snarled.**

**"Whereas you just need four mates behind you before you can beat up a ten year old. **

"Good one," Bill said with a laugh. The marauders winced at that, as they remembered what they did to Snape.

**You know that boxing title you keep banging on about? How old was your opponent? Seven? Eight?"**

**"He was sixteen, for your information," snarled Dudley, "and he was out cold for twenty minutes after I'd finished with him and he was twice as heavy as you. You just wait till I tell Dad you had that thing out –"**

**"Running to Daddy now, are you? Is his ickle boxing champ frightened of nasty Cris' wand?"**

"Good grief Cris, you can be brutal." Sirius said. Cris just smiled innocently at him.

**"Not this brave at night, are you?" sneered Dudley.**

**"This is night, Diddykins. That's what we call it when it goes all dark like this."**

**"I mean when you're in bed!" Dudley snarled.**

**He had stopped walking. Cris stopped too, staring at her cousin.**

**From the little she could see of Dudley's large face, he was wearing a strangely triumphant look.**

**"What d'you mean, I'm not brave when I'm in bed?" said Cris, completely nonplussed. "What am I supposed to be frightened of, pillows or something?"**

**"I heard you last night," said Dudley breathlessly. "Talking in your sleep. Moaning." **

"He didn't go there." Lily growled.

"He did." Cris muttered.

**"What d'you mean?" Cris said again, but there was a cold, plunging sensation in her stomach. She had revisited the graveyard last night in her dreams.**

**Dudley gave a harsh bark of laughter, then adopted a high-pitched whimpering voice.**

**"'Don't kill Cedric! Don't kill Cedric!' Who's Cedric - your boyfriend?"**

"He has some nerve." Ginny growled.

"I hope you got him for that." Charlie said. Cris just smirked which had everyone on the edge of their seats now.

**"I - you're lying," said Cris automatically. **

**But her mouth had gone dry. She knew Dudley wasn't lying - how else would he know about Cedric?**

**"Dad! Help me, Dad! He's going to kill me, Dad! Boo hoo!"**

"How dare he make fun of something like that!" Remus shouted.

**"Shut up" said Cris quietly. "Shut up, Dudley, I'm warning you!"**

**"Come and help me, Dad! Mum, come and help me! He's killed Cedric! Dad, help me! He's going to - don't you point that thing at me!"**

"Do it," snarled the kids.

"No don't, you could get expelled." Lily said.

**Dudley backed into the alley wall. Cris was pointing the wand directly at Dudley's heart. Cris could feel fourteen years' hatred of Dudley pounding in her veins - what wouldn't she give to strike now, to jinx Dudley so thoroughly he'd have to crawl home like an insect, struck dumb, sprouting feelers…**

Everyone started laughing at the image.

"I love your imagination Bambi." Fred said kissing her head.

**"Don't ever talk about that again," Cris snarled. "D'you understand me?"**

**"Point that thing somewhere else!"**

**"I said, do you understand me?"**

**"Point it somewhere else!"**

**"DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"**

**"GET THAT THING AWAY FROM -"**

**Dudley gave an odd, shuddering gasp, as though he had been doused in icy water.**

"The Dementors." Tonks said. Everyone grew pale and Prongs took a deep breath before he continued reading.

**Something had happened to the night. The star-strewn indigo sky was suddenly pitch black and lightless - the stars, the moon, the misty streetlamps at either end of the alley had vanished. The distant rumble of cars and the whisper of trees had gone. The balmy evening was suddenly piercingly, bitingly cold. They were surrounded by total, impenetrable, silent darkness, as though some giant hand had dropped a thick, icy mantle over the entire alleyway, blinding them.**

**For a split second Cris thought she had done magic without meaning to, despite the fact that she'd been resisting as hard as she could - then her reason caught up with her senses - she didn't have the power to turn off the stars. She turned her head this way and that, trying to see something, but the darkness pressed on her eyes like a weightless veil.**

Sirius shuddered and Robin cuddled up next to him and he wrapped his arm around her.

**Dudley's terrified voice broke in Cris' ear.**

**"W-what are you d-doing? St-stop it!"**

**"I'm not doing anything! Shut up and don't move!"**

**"I c-can't see! I've g-gone blind! I -"**

**"I said shut up!"**

**Cris stood stock still, turning her sightless eyes left and right. The cold was so intense she was shivering all over; goose bumps had erupted up her arms and the hairs on the back of her neck were standing up - she opened her eyes to their fullest extent, staring blankly around, unseeing.**

**It was impossible… they couldn't be here… not in Little Whinging… she strained her ears… she would hear them before she saw them… **

"Thank god for that." Tonks said.

**"I'll t-tell Dad!" Dudley whimpered. "W-where are you? What are you d-do—?"**

**"Will you shut up?" Cris hissed, "I'm trying to lis —"**

**But she fell silent. She had heard just the thing she had been dreading.**

**There was something in the alleyway apart from themselves, something that was drawing long, hoarse, rattling breaths. Cris felt a horrible jolt of dread as she stood trembling in the freezing air.**

**"C-cut it out! Stop doing it! I'll h-hit you, I swear I will!"**

**"Dudley, shut—"**

**WHAM.**

"He hit you!" snarled the twins. They wanted to hit him as well.

"He just made things a lot more dangerous on himself." Charlie said.

**A fist made contact with the side of Cris' head, lifting her off her feet. Small white lights popped in front of her eyes. For the second time in an hour Cris felt as though her head had been cleaved in two; next moment, she had landed hard on the ground and her wand had flown out of her hand.**

"No, no, no." Lily chanted, it was only the first chapter and it was already getting to her nerves.

**"You moron, Dudley!" Cris yelled, her eyes watering with pain as she scrambled to her hands and knees, feeling around frantically in the blackness. She heard Dudley blundering away, hitting the alley fence, stumbling.**

**"DUDLEY, COME BACK! YOU'RE RUNNING RIGHT AT IT!"**

"And he can't see it, this is bad." Fudge said.

"See, told you it was Dementors." Cris said. Fudge looked ashamed and Cris felt triumphant.

**There was a horrible squealing yell and Dudley's footsteps stopped. At the same moment, Cris felt a creeping chill behind her that could mean only one thing. There was more than one.**

**"DUDLEY, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! WHATEVER YOU DO, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! Wand!" Cris muttered frantically, her hands flying over the ground like spiders.**

**"Where's - wand -come on -lumos!"**

"I don't think that will work." Charlie muttered. Cris just smiled at him but didn't say anything.

**She said the spell automatically, desperate for light to help her in her search - and to her disbelieving relief, light flared inches from her right hand - the wand tip had ignited. **

"That is wandless magic." Remus said wide eyed.

"Mum can do more." Lily J said. Cris went wide eyed at the thought, that was cool but she didn't want to think about it.

**Cris snatched it up, scrambled to her feet and turned around.**

**HEr stomach turned over.**

**A towering, hooded figure was gliding smoothly towards her, hovering over the ground, no feet or face visible beneath its robes, sucking on the night as it came.**

"Just do the spell, you can do it." Robin said under her breath.

**Stumbling backwards, Cris raised her wand.**

**"Expecto patronum!"**

**A silvery wisp of vapor shot from the tip of the wand and the Dementor slowed, but the spell hadn't worked properly; tripping over her own feet, Cris retreated further as the Dementor bore down upon her, panic fogging her brain -concentrate–**

"Think of something happy." George said.

"I know its hard but you can do it." Fred said. They both clung to Cris tighter.

**A pair of grey, slimy, scabbed hands slid from inside the Dementor's robes, reaching for her. A rushing noise filled Cris' ears.**

**"Expecto patronum!"**

**Her voice sounded dim and distant. Another wisp of silver smoke, feebler than the last, drifted from the wand - she couldn't do it any more, she couldn't work the spell.**

**There was laughter inside her own head, shrill, high-pitched laughter… she could smell the Dementor's putrid, death-cold breath filling her own lungs, drowning her - think… something happy…**

**But there was no happiness in her… the Dementor's icy fingers were closing on her throat – the high-pitched laughter was growing louder and louder, and a voice spoke inside her head: "Bow to death, Cristal… it might even be painless… I would not know… I have never died…"**

"It changed." Remus said.

"What was it before?" Fudge asked.

"My parents' death." Cris said. Fudge looked at her shocked, no child should have to relive that dreadful moment.

**She was never going to see Ron and Hermione or Fred and George again –**

**And their faces burst clearly into her mind as she fought for breath.**

**"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"**

"You thought of us?" the twins, Ron and Hermione asked. Cris nodded and snuggled closer to her boys.

**An enormous silver stag erupted from the tip of Cris' wand; its antlers caught the Dementor in the place where the heart should have been; it was thrown backwards, weightless as darkness, and as the stag charged, the Dementor swooped away, bat-like and defeated.**

**"THIS WAY!" Cris shouted at the stag. Wheeling around, she sprinted down the alleyway, holding the lit wand aloft. "DUDLEY? DUDLEY!"**

**She had run barely a dozen steps when she reached them: Dudley was curled up on the ground, his arms clamped over his face. A second Dementor was crouching low over him, gripping his wrists in its slimy hands, prizing them slowly almost lovingly apart, lowering its hooded head towards Dudley's face as though about to kiss him.**

"See if I hadn't done it my cousin would have been worse than dead." Cris said. Fudge was pale but he nodded, this was definitely one of the times that it was okay to use underage magic.

**"GET IT!" Cris bellowed, and with a rushing, roaring sound, the silver stag she had conjured came galloping past her. The Dementor's eyeless face was barely an inch from Dudley's when the silver antlers caught it; the thing was thrown up into the air and, like its fellow, it soared away and was absorbed into the darkness; the stag cantered to the end of the alleyway and dissolved into silver mist.**

**Moon, stars and streetlamps burst back into life. A warm breeze swept the alleyway. Trees rustled in neighboring gardens and the mundane rumble of cars in Magnolia Crescent filled the air again.**

**Cris stood quite still, all her senses vibrating, taking in the abrupt return to normality. After a moment, she became aware that her T-shirt was sticking to her; she was drenched in sweat.**

**She could not believe what had just happened. Dementors here, in Little Whinging.**

"But who sent them?" Bill asked.

"You'll find out at the end of the book." Lily J said.

"Not cool," said the group.

**Dudley lay curled up on the ground, whimpering and shaking. Cris bent down to see whether she was in a fit state to stand up, but then she heard loud, running footsteps behind her.**

"Please don't let it be a Death Eater." Lily said.

**Instinctively raising her wand again, she span on her heel to face the newcomer.**

**Mrs. Figg, their batty old neighbor, came panting into sight. Her grizzled grey hair was escaping from its hairnet, a clanking string shopping bag was swinging from her wrist and her feet were halfway out of her tartan carpet slippers. Cris made to stow her wand hurriedly out of sight, but-**

**"Don't put it away idiot girl!" she shrieked. "What if there are more of them around? Oh, I'm going to kill Mundungus Fletcher!"**

"That's the chapter." Prongs said. He gave it to Lily who started the next chapter.

"I wanted to kill Dung so badly for that." Sirius said.

"We all did." Robin said.


	3. Chapter 2: A Peck of Owls

"**Chapter 2: A Peck of Owls," **Lily read.

"Alright, you are going to get some letters, I guess." Padfoot said.

"Yep," Cris said. She really wasn't looking forward to their reactions.

**"****He left!" said Mrs. Figg, wringing her hands. "Left to see someone about a batch of cauldrons that fell off the back of a broom! I told him I'd flay him alive if he went, and now look! Dementors! It's just lucky I put Mr. Tibbles on the case! But we haven't got time to stand around! Hurry, now, we've got to get you back! Oh, the trouble this is going to cause! I will kill him!"**

**"But -" The revelation that her batty old cat-obsessed neighbor knew what Dementors were was almost as big a shock to Cris as meeting two of them down the alleyway. "You're - you're a witch?"**

"No, she isn't Cris." Robin said.

"I know that now," Cris said with a blush.

**"****I'm a Squib, as Mundungus knows full well, so how on earth was I supposed to help you fight off Dementors? He left you completely without cover when I'd warned him -"**

**"****This Mundungus has been following me? Hang on - it was him! He Disapparated from the front of my house!"**

**"Yes, yes, yes, but luckily I'd stationed Mr. Tibbles under a car just in case, and Mr. Tibbles came and warned me, but by the time I got to your house you'd gone - and now - oh, what's Dumbledore going to say? You!" she shrieked at Dudley, still supine on the alley floor. "Get your fat bottom off the ground, quick!" **

The group laughed at that.

"You don't know how many times I wished I could have said that to my cousin." Cris said.

"You called him that behind his back." Gwen said.

"I know, but I meant to his face." Cris said.

**"****You know Dumbledore?" said Cris, staring at her.**

**"****Of course I know Dumbledore, who doesn't know Dumbledore? **

"Muggles," Gwen said pointing at herself.

"Muggleborns," Hermione and Lily said pointing at themselves.

"Muggle raised." Cris said pointing at herself.

"I think the four of you made your points." Bill said with a chuckle.

**But come on - I'll be no help if they come back, I've never so much as transfigured a teabag."**

**She stooped down, seized one of Dudley's massive arms in her wizened hands and tugged.**

**"****Get up, you useless lump, get up!"**

**But Dudley either could not or would not move. He remained on the ground, trembling and ashen-faced, his mouth shut very tight.**

**"****I'll do it." Cris took hold of Dudley's arm and heaved. With an enormous effort she managed to hoist him to his feet.**

"You're a lot stronger than you look." Sirius said.

"Adrenaline, I think was a key component." Cris said.

"Adrenaline is a good explanation." Remus said.

**Dudley seemed to be on the point of fainting. His small eyes were rolling in their sockets and sweat was beading his face; the moment Cris let go of him he swayed dangerously.**

"**Hurry up!" said Mrs. Figg hysterically. **

"Dudley won't be able to walk by himself." Gwen said.

"I know," Cris said.

**Cris pulled one of Dudley's massive arms around her own shoulders and dragged him towards the road, sagging slightly under the weight. Mrs. Figg tottered along in front of them, peering anxiously around the corner.**

"**Keep your wand out," she told Cris, as they entered Wisteria Walk. "Never mind the Statute of Secrecy now, there's going to be hell to pay anyway, we might as well be hanged for a dragon as an egg. Talk about the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery… this was exactly what Dumbledore was afraid of -**

**What's that at the end of the street? Oh, it's just Mr. Prentice… don't put your wand away, girl, don't I keep telling you I'm no use?"**

"It was kind of hard to do that." Cris said.

"I can imagine." Fred said.

"I probably wasn't an easy task for you." George said.

"No, I was sore for a few days afterward." Cris said.

"I can imagine." Tonks said.

**It was not easy to hold a wand steady and haul Dudley along at the same time. Cris gave her cousin an impatient dig in the ribs, but Dudley seemed to have lost all desire for independent movement. He was slumped on Cris' shoulder, his large feet dragging along the ground.**

**"****Why didn't you tell me you're a Squib, Mrs. Figg?" asked Cris, panting with the effort to keep walking. "All those times I came round your house - why didn't you say anything?"**

**"****Dumbledore's orders. I was to keep an eye on you but not say anything, you were too young. I'm sorry I gave you such a miserable time, Cris, but the Dursley's would never have let you come if they'd thought you enjoyed it. **

"That's certainly true." Cris said.

"I wish you had a happy childhood." Sirius said.

"Don't worry Pads, we'll change it and Crisy will have siblings and everything." Prongs said.

"I want to have siblings." Cris said. Prongs and Lily nodded and Lily continued reading.

**It wasn't easy, you know… but oh my word," she said tragically, wringing her hands once more, "when Dumbledore hears about this - how could Mundungus have left, he was supposed to be on duty until midnight - where is he? How am I going to tell Dumbledore what's happened? I can't Apparate."**

**"****I've got an owl, you can borrow her." Cris groaned, wondering whether her spine was going to snap under Dudley's weight.**

**"****Cris, you don't understand! Dumbledore will need to act as quickly as possible, the Ministry have their own ways of detecting underage magic, they'll know already, you mark my words."**

**"****But I was getting rid of Dementors, I had to use magic - they're going to be more worried about what Dementors were doing floating around Wisteria Walk, surely?"**

"You would think." Cris said glaring at the three ministry officials in the room.

**"****Oh, my dear, I wish it were so, but I'm afraid - MUNDUNGUS FLETCHER, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"**

"And enters Dung." Robin said.

"Yep," Cris said.

"He's just lucky that I didn't murder him when I got the chance." Sirius said.

**There was a loud crack and a strong smell of drink mingled with stale tobacco filled the air as a squat, unshaven man in a tattered overcoat materialized right in front of them. He had short, bandy legs, long straggly ginger hair and bloodshot, baggy eyes that gave him the doleful look of a basset hound. He was also clutching a silvery bundle that Cris recognized at once as an Invisibility Cloak.**

**"****S'up, Figgy?" he said, staring from Mrs. Figg to Cris and Dudley. "What 'appened to staying undercover?"**

"That went to hell in a hand basket when the Dementors showed up." Sirius said.

**"****I'll give you undercover!" cried Mrs. Figg. "Dementors, you useless, skiving sneak thief!"**

**"****Dementors?" repeated Mundungus, aghast. "Dementors, 'ere?"**

"Why was he on guard duty again?" Remus asked.

"I don't know, Dumbledore assigned him." Robin said.

"I admit, he wasn't the best choice but he was the only one who hasn't done anything yet." Dumbledore said.

**"****Yes, here, you worthless pile of bat droppings, here!" shrieked Mrs. Figg. "Dementors attacking the girl on your watch!"**

**"****Blimey," said Mundungus weakly, looking from Mrs. Figg to Cris, and back again. "Blimey, I -"**

**"****And you off buying stolen cauldrons! **

"I could strangle him." Lily said.

"I know love, just relax." Prongs said.

**Didn't I tell you not to go? Didn't I!"**

**"****I - well, I -" Mundungus looked deeply uncomfortable. "It — it was a very good business opportunity, see -"**

**Mrs. Figg raised the arm from which her string bag dangled and whacked Mundungus around the face and neck with it; judging by the clanking noise it made it was full of cat food.**

"Oohh, so that's where those bruises came from." Ginny said.

**"****Ouch - gerroff - gerroff, you mad old bat! Someone's gotta tell Dumbledore!"**

**"****Yes - they - have!" yelled Mrs. Figg, swinging the bag of cat food at every bit of Mundungus she could reach. "And - it - had - better - be - you - and - you - can - tell - him - why - you - weren't - there - to - help!"**

**"****Keep your 'airnet on!" said Mundungus, his arms over his head, cowering. "I'm going, I'm going!"**

**And with another loud crack, he vanished.**

**"****I hope Dumbledore murders him!" said Mrs. Figg furiously.**

"Me too," Lily growled.

"We came close." Sirius said.

**"Now come on, Cris, what are you waiting for?"**

**Cris decided not to waste her remaining breath on pointing out that she could barely walk under Dudley's bulk. She gave the semi-conscious Dudley a heave and staggered onwards.**

**"****I'll take you to the door," said Mrs. Figg, as they turned into Privet Drive. "Just in case there are more of them around… oh my word, what a catastrophe… and you had to fight them off yourself… and Dumbledore said we were to keep you from doing magic at all costs… well, it's no good crying over spilt potion, I suppose… but the cat's among the pixies now."**

**"****So," Cris panted, "Dumbledore's… been having… me followed?"**

**"****Of course he has," said Mrs. Figg impatiently. "Did you expect him to let you wander around on your own after what happened in June? Good Lord, girl, they told me you were intelligent… right… get inside and stay there," she said, as they reached number four. "I expect someone will be in touch with you soon enough." **

"Yeah, the bloody ministry." Cris muttered.

"It's okay love,"

"You were cleared,"

"Nothing can change that." The twins finished together into her ear.

**"What are you going to do?" asked Cris quickly.**

**"I'm going straight home," said Mrs. Figg, staring around the dark street and shuddering. "I'll need to wait for more instructions. Just stay in the house. Goodnight."**

"I hate being told what to do." Cris muttered darkly.

"That makes so much sense." The twins said.

**"Hang on, don't go yet! I want to know -"**

**But Mrs. Figg had already set off at a trot, carpet slippers flopping, string bag clanking.**

**"Wait!" Cris shouted after her. She had a million questions to ask anyone who was in contact with Dumbledore; but within seconds Mrs. Figg was swallowed by the darkness. Scowling, Cris readjusted Dudley on her shoulder and made her slow, painful way up number four's garden path.**

**The hall light was on. Cris stuck her wand back inside the waistband of her jeans, rang the bell and watched Aunt Petunia's outline grow larger and larger, oddly distorted by the rippling glass in the front door.**

**"Diddy! About time too, I was getting quite - quite -Diddy, what's the matter!" **

"Sure, nothing about your niece who has a crazy maniac after her." Moony said.

"What can I say, they care more for Dudley then they do about me." Cris said.

**Cris looked sideways at Dudley and ducked out from under his arm just in time. Dudley swayed on the spot for a moment, his face pale green… then he opened his mouth and vomited all over the doormat.**

"At least you moved." Ginny said.

"And even if I did get hit, at least it was the old clothes and not the new ones." Cris said.

"Thank God, we spent near eight hours shopping that day, granted most of it was your tattoo and getting your contacts." Gwen said.

**"DIDDY! Diddy, what's the matter with you? Vernon? VERNON!"**

**Cris' uncle came galumphing out of the living room, walrus moustache blowing hither and thither as it always did when he was agitated. He hurried forwards to help Aunt Petunia negotiate a weak-kneed Dudley over the threshold while avoiding stepping in the pool of sick.**

**"He's ill, Vernon!"**

"No really?" Bill asked.

"I think that would be obvious." Charlie said.

**"What is it, son? What's happened? Did Mrs. Polkiss give you something foreign for tea?"**

**"Why are you all covered in dirt, darling? Have you been lying on the ground?"**

**"Hang on - you haven't been mugged, have you, son?"**

**Aunt Petunia screamed.**

**"Phone the police, Vernon! Phone the police! Diddy, darling, speak to Mummy! What did they do to you?"**

**In all the kerfuffle nobody seemed to have noticed Cris, which suited her perfectly. She managed to slip inside just before Uncle Vernon slammed the door and, while the Dursley's made their noisy progress down the hall towards the kitchen, Cris moved carefully and quietly towards the stairs.**

"Knowing your luck that wouldn't work to well." Remus said.

"Yeah, if only it worked out the way I wanted it to." Cris said.

**"Who did it, son? Give us names. We'll get them, don't worry."**

**"Shh! He's trying to say something, Vernon! What is it, Diddy? Tell Mummy!"**

**Cris' foot was on the bottom-most stair when Dudley found his voice.**

**"Her."**

"He did not just blame you." Ginny snarled.

"He did the ungrateful git." Cris said.

"This is not going to be good." Robin said.

**Cris froze, foot on the stair, face screwed up, braced for the explosion.**

**"GIRL! COME HERE!"**

**With a feeling of mingled dread and anger, Cris removed her foot slowly from the stair and turned to follow the Dursley's.**

**The scrupulously clean kitchen had an oddly unreal glitter after the darkness outside. Aunt Petunia was ushering Dudley into a chair; he was still very green and clammy-looking. Uncle Vernon standing in front of the draining board, glaring at Cris through tiny, narrowed eyes.**

**"What have you done to my son?" he said in a menacing growl.**

**"Nothing," said Cris, knowing perfectly well that Uncle Vernon wouldn't believe her. **

"He should, you didn't do a damn thing. You stopped his soul from being taken." Kingsley said.

"They don't care," Cris said.

**"What did she do to you, Diddy?" Aunt Petunia said in a quavering voice, now sponging sick from the front of Dudley's leather jacket. "Was it - was it you-know-what, darling? Did she use – her thing?"**

"That makes it sound very sexual." Bill said with a snicker.

"William!" Mrs. Weasley scolded but the rest of the group laughed at that.

**Slowly, tremulously, Dudley nodded.**

**"I didn't!" Cris said sharply, as Aunt Petunia let out a wail and Uncle Vernon raised his fists. "I didn't do anything to him, it wasn't me, it was –"**

**But at that precise moment a screech owl swooped in through the kitchen window. Narrowly missing the top of Uncle Vernon's head, it soared across the kitchen, dropped the large parchment envelope it was carrying in its beak at Cris' feet, turned gracefully, the tips of its wings just brushing the top of the fridge, then zoomed outside again and off across the garden.**

**"OWLS!" bellowed Uncle Vernon, the well-worn vein in his temple pulsing angrily as he slammed the kitchen window shut. "OWLS AGAIN! I WILL NOT HAVE ANY MORE OWLS IN MY HOUSE!" **

"I think he is slightly irritated now." Tonks said.

"You think?" asked her cousin.

**But Cris was already ripping open the envelope and pulling out the letter inside, her heart pounding somewhere in the back of her throat.**

_**Dear Miss Potter,**_

_**We have received intelligence that you performed the Patronus Charm at twenty-three minutes past nine this evening in a Muggle-inhabited area and in the presence of a Muggle.**_

"Muggles who know about magic." Bill said glaring at the Minister. Fudge flushed at that, the Muggle who she performed in of had known all his life, he had not considered that.

_**The severity of this breach of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery has resulted in your expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Ministry representatives will be calling at your place of residence shortly to destroy your wand.**_

"What!" cried the room.

"You didn't tell us they expelled you first." Hermione snapped glaring at her friend.

"I kind of forgot about that considered everything that happened after that." Cris said sheepishly.

"I don't blame you." Sirius said.

_**As you have already received an official warning for a previous offence under Section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy, we regret to inform you that your presence is required at a disciplinary hearing at the Ministry of Magic at 9 a.m. on the twelfth of August.**_

_**Hoping you are well,**_

_**Yours sincerely,**_

_**Mafalda Hopkirk**_

"Only they would end a letter like that." Charlie said.

"Yeah, oh, I'm very well now you've expelled me." Tonks said.

_**Improper Use of Magic Office**_

_**Ministry of Magic**_

**Cris read the letter through twice. She was only vaguely aware of Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia talking. Inside her head, all was icy and numb. One fact had penetrated her consciousness like a paralyzing dart. She was expelled from Hogwarts. It was all over. She was never going back.**

"Don't think like that, Dumbledore won't let them expel you for defending yourself." Padfoot said.

"I know," Cris said.

**She looked up at the Dursley's. Uncle Vernon was purple-faced, shouting, his fists still raised; Aunt Petunia had her arms around Dudley, who was retching again.**

**Cris' temporarily stupefied brain seemed to reawaken. Ministry representatives will be calling at your place of residence shortly to destroy your wand. There was only one thing for it. She would have to run - now. **

"No don't do that!" cried the room.

"I didn't." Cris said with a huff and crossed her arms.

**Where she was going to go, Cris didn't know, but she was certain of one thing: at Hogwarts or outside it, she needed her wand. In an almost dream like state, she pulled her wand out and turned to leave the kitchen.**

**"Where d'you think you're going?" yelled Uncle Vernon. When Cris didn't reply, he pounded across the kitchen to block the doorway into the hall. "I haven't finished with you, girl!"**

**"Get out of the way," said Cris quietly.**

**"You're going to stay here and explain how my son-"**

**"If you don't get out of the way I'm going to jinx you," said Cris, raising the wand.**

"Cris, that will only cause more trouble." Mrs. Weasley said.

"I know," Cris said.

**"You can't pull that one on me!" snarled Uncle Vernon. "I know you're not allowed to use it outside that madhouse you call a school!"**

**"The madhouse has chucked me out," said Cris. "So I can do whatever I like. You've got three seconds. One - two -"**

**A resounding CRACK filled the kitchen. Aunt Petunia screamed, 'Hide!' Uncle Vernon yelled and ducked, but for the third time that night Cris was searching for the source of a disturbance she had not made. She spotted it at once: a dazed and ruffled-looking barn owl was sitting outside on the kitchen sill, having just collided with the closed window.**

"Errol," the Weasley's said.

**Ignoring Uncle Vernon's anguished yell of 'OWLS!' Cris crossed the room at a run and wrenched the window open. The owl stuck out its leg, to which a small roll of parchment was tied, shook its leathers, and took off the moment Cris had taken the letter. Hands shaking, Cris unfurled the second message, which was written very hastily and blotchily in black ink.**

_**Cris —**_

_**Dumbledore's just arrived at the Ministry and he's trying to sort it all out. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR AUNT AND UNCLE'S HOUSE.**_

_**DO NOT DO ANY MORE MAGIC. DO NOT SURRENDER YOUR WAND.**_

_**Arthur Weasley**_

"Good, at least someone told her to stay." Robin said.

**Dumbledore was trying to sort it all out… what did that mean? How much power did Dumbledore have to override the Ministry of Magic?**

"Enough," Dumbledore said.

"I thought you had more." Prongs said.

"Not in these days." Dumbledore said.

**Was there a chance that she might be allowed back to Hogwarts, then? A small shoot of hope burgeoned in Cris' chest, almost immediately strangled by panic - how was she supposed to refuse to surrender her wand without doing magic? She'd have to duel with the Ministry representatives, and if she did that, she'd be lucky to escape Azkaban, let alone expulsion.**

**Her mind was racing… she could run for it and risk being captured by the Ministry, or stay put and wait for them to find her here. She was much more tempted by the former course, but she knew Mr. Weasley had her best interests at heart… and after all, Dumbledore had sorted out much worse than this before.**

**"Right," Cris said, "I've changed my mind, I'm staying."**

"I bet that shocked them." Ron said snickering.

"Yep," Cris said with a giggle.

**She flung herself down at the kitchen table and faced Dudley and Aunt Petunia. The Dursley's appeared taken aback at her abrupt change of mind. Aunt Petunia glanced despairingly at Uncle Vernon. The vein in his purple temple was throbbing worse than ever.**

**"Who are all these ruddy owls from?" he growled.**

"If he thinks that's bad he should see the Owlery." Tonks said.

"I can just picture it." Charlie said.

**"The first one was from the Ministry of Magic, expelling me," said Cris calmly. She was straining her ears to catch any noises outside, in case the Ministry representatives were approaching, and it was easier and quieter to answer Uncle Vernon's questions than to have him start raging and bellowing. "The second one was from my friend Ron's dad, who works at the Ministry."**

**"Ministry of Magic?" bellowed Uncle Vernon. "People like you in government! Oh, this explains everything, everything, no wonder the country's going to the dogs." **

"It's not that bad." Gwen said.

"No not really, every civilization has some sort of government so I don't know why it's surprising that we have one." Hermione said.

"Well said," McGonagall said.

**When Cris did not respond, Uncle Vernon glared at her, then spat out, "And why have you been expelled?"**

**"Because I did magic."**

**"AHA!" roared Uncle Vernon, slamming his fist down on top of the fridge, which sprang open; several of Dudley's low-fat snacks toppled out and burst on the floor. "So you admit it! What did you do to Dudley?"**

"It wasn't that kind of spell you idiot." Keiran said.

"Well said love," Victoire said kissing him.

**"Nothing," said Cris, slightly less calmly. "That wasn't me -"**

**"Was," muttered Dudley unexpectedly, and Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia instantly made flapping gestures at Cris to quieted her while they both bent low over Dudley.**

**"Go on, son," said Uncle Vernon, "what did he do?"**

**"Tell us, darling," whispered Aunt Petunia.**

**"Pointed his wand at me," Dudley mumbled.**

**"Yeah, I did, but I didn't use -" Cris began angrily, but –**

**"SHUT UP!" roared Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia in unison. **

"Great, now they are going to be judging her as well." Moony said.

**"Go on, son," repeated Uncle Vernon, moustache blowing about furiously.**

**"All went dark," Dudley said hoarsely, shuddering. "Everything dark. And then I h-heard… things. Inside m-my head."**

**Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia exchanged looks of utter horror. If their least favorite thing in the world was magic - closely followed by neighbors who cheated more than they did on the hosepipe ban - people who heard voices were definitely in the bottom ten. They obviously thought Dudley was losing his mind.**

**"What sort of things did you hear, Popkin?" breathed Aunt Petunia, very white-faced and with tears in her eyes.**

**But Dudley seemed incapable of saying. He shuddered again and shook his large blond head, and despite the sense of numb dread that had settled on Cris since the arrival of the first owl, she felt a certain curiosity. Dementors caused a person to relive the worst moments of their life. What would spoiled, pampered, bullying Dudley have been forced to hear?**

"You and your curiosity." Hermione said.

"Did you ever find out?" Bill asked.

"No," Cris said shaking her head.

**"How come you fell over, son?" said Uncle Vernon, in an unnaturally quiet voice, the kind of voice he might adopt at the bedside of a very ill person.**

"Which was very creepy." Cris said.

"I can imagine." Sirius said.

**"T-tripped," said Dudley shakily. "And then –"**

**He gestured at his massive chest. Cris understood. Dudley was remembering the clammy cold that filled the lungs as hope and happiness were sucked out of you. **

Everyone shivered at the thought.

**"Horrible," croaked Dudley. "Cold. Really cold."**

**"Okay," said Uncle Vernon, in a voice of forced calm, while Aunt Petunia laid an anxious hand on Dudley's forehead to feel his temperature. "What happened then, Dudders?"**

**"Felt… felt… felt… as if… as if…"**

**"As if you'd never be happy again," Cris supplied dully.**

**"Yes," Dudley whispered, still trembling.**

**"So!" said Uncle Vernon, voice restored to full and considerable volume as he straightened up.**

**"You put some crackpot spell on my son so he'd hear voices and believe he was - was doomed to misery, or something, did you?"**

**"How many times do I have to tell you?" said Cris, temper and voice both rising. "It wasn't me! It was a couple of Dementors!"**

**"A couple of - what's this codswallop?"**

**"De - men - tors," said Cris slowly and clearly. "Two of them."**

**"And what the ruddy hell are Dementors?"**

"How did you explain that?" Charlie asked.

"I didn't," Cris said.

"Then how?" Bill asked.

**"They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban," said Aunt Petunia.**

"How did she know?" Tonks asked.

"She heard me and a friend talking about it one time." Lily said.

"So it wasn't you and dad?" Cris asked.

"No, sweetie," Lily said sparing a glance at Snape who didn't look at her.

**Two seconds of ringing silence followed these words before Aunt Petunia clapped her hand over her mouth as though she had let slip a disgusting swear word. Uncle Vernon was goggling at her.**

"I'm thinking he wasn't expecting her to know the answer." Charlie said.

**Cris' brain reeled. Mrs. Figg was one thing - but Aunt Petunia?**

**"How d'you know that?" she asked her, astonished.**

**Aunt Petunia looked quite appalled with herself. She glanced at Uncle Vernon in fearful apology, then lowered her hand slightly to reveal her horsy teeth.**

**"I heard - that awful boy – telling her about them - years ago," she said jerkily.**

Lily and Snape shared a quick glance at that, at least she didn't tell her who, Snape thought.

**"If you mean my mum and dad, why don't you use their names?" said Cris loudly, but Aunt Petunia ignored her. She seemed horribly flustered.**

**Cris was stunned. Except for one outburst years ago, in the course of which Aunt Petunia had screamed that Cris' mother had been a freak, she had never heard her mention her sister. She was astounded that she had remembered this scrap of information about the magical world for so long, when she usually put all her energies into pretending it didn't exist.**

"Yeah right, Aunt Petunia is actually really accepting now. It's like the death of Uncle Vernon freed her of her previous accusations." Lily J said.

"It's possible." Cris said with a shrug.

**Uncle Vernon opened his mouth, closed it again, opened it once more, shut it, then, apparently struggling to remember how to talk, opened it for a third time and croaked, "So - so - they - er - they - er - they actually exist, do they - er - Dementy-whatsits?"**

"Why can't he say it now?" Charlie asked.

"I have no idea." Cris said.

"It's really not hard to say." Gwen said.

**Aunt Petunia nodded.**

**Uncle Vernon looked from Aunt Petunia to Dudley to Cris as if hoping somebody was going to shout 'April Fool!' When nobody did, he opened his mouth yet again, but was spared the struggle to find more words by the arrival of the third owl of the evening. It zoomed through the still-open window like a feathery cannon-ball and landed with a clatter on the kitchen table, causing all three of the Dursley's to jump with fright. Cris tore a second official-looking envelope from the owls beak and ripped it open as the owl swooped back out into the night.**

**"Enough - effing - owls," muttered Uncle Vernon distractedly, stomping over to the window and slamming it shut again.**

"It's not like I can stop them." Cris huffed.

"It'll be funny to see that." Fred said.

"Shush it you. And you too." Cris said to both the twins.

_**Dear Miss Potter,**_

_**Further to our letter of approximately twenty-two minutes ago,**_

"Are they always so precise?" Gwen asked.

"Yep," the group said.

_**the Ministry of Magic has revised its decision to destroy your wand forthwith. You may retain your wand until your disciplinary hearing on the twelfth of August, at which time an official decision will be taken.**_

"They better find her innocent, but this is ridiculous." Prongs said.

"Yeah, it is." Padfoot said.

_**Following discussions with the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the Ministry has agreed that the question of your expulsion will also be decided at that time. You should therefore consider yourself suspended from school pending further enquiries.**_

_**With best wishes,**_

_**Yours sincerely,**_

_**Mafalda Hopkirk**_

_**Improper Use of Magic Office**_

_**Ministry of Magic**_

**Cris read her letter through three times in quick succession. The miserable knot in her chest loosened slightly with the relief of Knowing she was not yet definitely expelled, though her fears were by no means banished. Everything seemed to hang on this hearing on the twelfth of August.**

"Which is ridiculous, it was self-defense, even underage kids can at least defend themselves." Mr. Weasley said.

"Especially us," James, Lily J, Keiran, Teddy and Scarlett said.

"What?" Cris asked wide-eyed.

"It was in Diagon Alley, you were with Al getting his wand, Dad and Papa were working at their store and the rest our siblings were at Grandma and Grandpa's. They were still a few Death Eaters running around and we ran into one after leaving Magical Menagerie and he recognized us and started attacking. We stunned him by the time mum showed up." James said.

"It's just like my situation." Cris said.

"Though we didn't get expelled, they did ask us to come in and with about a dozen witnesses we got off easy enough." Lily J said. Cris looked down, she was almost expelled, she was just happy that she wasn't.

"Can I continue reading now?" Lily asked. The group nodded and she continued.

**"Well?" said Uncle Vernon, recalling Cris to her surroundings. "What now? Have they sentenced you to anything? Do your lot have the death penalty?" he added as a hopeful afterthought.**

"What!" shouted the room.

"How dare he!" snarled Lily. Several bangs were heard which were caused by several people which they were surprised by.

"I'd like to see him get the death penalty." Tonks said.

**"I've got to go to a hearing," said Cris.**

**"And they'll sentence you there?"**

**"I suppose so."**

**"I won't give up hope, then," said Uncle Vernon nastily.**

Tempers were flaring now, and Cris wouldn't be surprised if the book caught fire anytime soon.

**"Well, if that's all," said Cris, getting to her feet. She was desperate to be alone, to think, perhaps to send a letter to Ron, Hermione or Sirius.**

**"NO, IT RUDDY WELL IS NOT ALL!" bellowed Uncle Vernon. "SIT BACK DOWN!"**

**"What now?" said Cris impatiently.**

**"DUDLEY!" roared Uncle Vernon. "I want to know exactly what happened to my son!"**

**"FINE!" yelled Cris, and in her temper, red and gold sparks shot out of the end of her wand, still clutched in her hand. All three Dursley's flinched, looking terrified.**

"They should be," Lily said.

**"Dudley and I were in the alleyway between Magnolia Crescent and Wisteria Walk," said Cris, speaking fast, fighting to control her temper. "Dudley thought he'd be smart with me, I pulled out my wand but didn't use it. Then two Dementors turned up —"**

**"But what ARE Dementoids?"**

"Really, it's not hard to say." Remus said.

"I know," Robin said.

**asked Uncle Vernon furiously. "What do they DO?"**

**"I told you - they suck all the happiness out of you," said Cris, "and if they get the chance, they kiss you -**

**"Kiss you?" said Uncle Vernon, his eyes popping slightly. "Kiss you?"**

"It does sound ridiculous." Gwen said.

"I know, but the reality is quite terrifying." Cris said.

**"It's what they call it when they suck the soul out of your mouth." **

"That's one way to describe it." Robin said.

"I didn't know any other to explain it to them." Cris said. "So I figured that the simple explanation would work better."

"Good thinking." Remus said.

**Aunt Petunia uttered a soft scream.**

**"His soul? They didn't take - he's still got his -"**

**She seized Dudley by the shoulders and shook him, as though testing to see whether she could hear his soul rattling around inside him.**

"You would know if they got it, and they fact that Dudley is still aware of everything is a clue." Remus said.

**"Of course they didn't get his soul, you'd know if they had," said Cris, exasperated.**

**"Fought 'em off, did you, son?" said Uncle Vernon loudly, with the appearance of a man struggling to bring the conversation back on to a plane he understood. "Gave 'em the old one-two, did you?"**

"I'd like to see them try to punch a Dementor." Charlie said.

"That'll be a sight to see." Cris said.

**"You can't give a Dementor the old one-two," said CRis through clenched teeth.**

**"Why's he all right, then?" blustered Uncle Vernon. "Why isn't he all empty, then?"**

**"Because I used the Patronus -"**

**WHOOSH. With a clattering, a whirring of wings and a soft fall of dust, a fourth owl came shooting out of the kitchen fireplace.**

"Good grief, you're really popular." Prongs said.

"I wonder who it is." Padfoot said.

**"FOR GOD'S SAKE!" roared Uncle Vernon, pulling great clumps of hair out of his moustache, something he hadn't been driven to do in a long time. "I WILL NOT HAVE OWLS HERE, I WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS, I TELL YOU!"**

"She can't stop them, so deal with it." Charlie snapped.

**But Cris was already pulling a roll of parchment from the owl's leg. She was so convinced that this letter had to be from Dumbledore, explaining everything - the Dementors, Mrs. Figg, what the Ministry was up to, how he, Dumbledore, intended to sort everything out - that for the first time in her life she was disappointed to see Sirius's handwriting. **

Sirius gasped and looked over at Cris in mock hurt.

"Why pup, why?" Sirius asked.

"I just wanted some answers is all." Cris said.

"I understand pup." Sirius said.

**Ignoring Uncle Vernon's on going rant about owls, and narrowing his eyes against a second cloud of dust as the most recent owl took off back up the chimney, Cris read Sirius's message.**

_**Arthur's just told us what's happened. Don't leave the house again, whatever you do.**_

**Cris found this such an inadequate response to everything that had happened tonight that she turned the piece of parchment over, looking for the rest of the letter, but there was nothing else.**

"Sorry, I was writing very fast and didn't know what else to tell you." Sirius said.

"It's alright, I understand now." Cris said with a smile.

**And now her temper was rising again. Wasn't anybody going to say 'well done' for fighting off two Dementors single-handed?**

"Well- done," the twins said.

"You fought off a lot more third year." Hermione said.

"That's true," Cris said.

**Both Mr. Weasley and Sirius were acting as though she'd misbehaved, and were saving their tellings-off until they could ascertain how much damage had been done.**

**"…A peck, I mean, pack of owls shooting in and out of my house. I won't have it, girl, I won't-"**

"So that's where the title came from, how anti-climactic." Ginny said.

"I know, right." Tonks said.

**"I can't stop the owls coming," Cris snapped, crushing Sirius's letter in her fist.**

**"I want the truth about what happened tonight!" barked Uncle Vernon. "If it was Demenders**

The group snorted at that again.

**who hurt Dudley, how come you've been expelled? You did you-know-what, you've admitted it!"**

**Cris took a deep, steadying breath. Her head was beginning to ache again. She wanted more than anything to get out of the kitchen, and away from the Dursley's.**

**"I did the Patronus Charm to get rid of the Dementors," she said, forcing herself to remain calm.**

**"But what were Dementoids doing in Little Whinging?" said Uncle Vernon in an outraged tone.**

**"Couldn't tell you," said Cris wearily. "No idea."**

"Do you know?" Prongs asked.

"I have a hunch, but I don't know for sure." Cris said.

"You find out at the end of the year." Scarlett said.

"Oh, okay." Cris said.

**Her head was pounding in the glare of the strip-lighting now. Her anger was ebbing away. She felt drained, exhausted. The Dursley's were all staring at her.**

**"It's you," said Uncle Vernon forcefully. "It's got something to do with you, girl, I know it. Why else would they turn up here? Why else would they be down that alleyway? You've got to be the only - the only -" Evidently, he couldn't bring himself to say the word 'wizard' "the only you know-what for miles."**

"Well as far as they know." Remus said.

"Very true." Cris said.

**"I don't know why they were here."**

**But at Uncle Vernon's words, Cris' exhausted brain had ground back into action. Why had the Dementors come to Little Whinging? How could it be coincidence that they had arrived in the alleyway where Cris was? Had they been sent? Had the Ministry of Magic lost control of the Dementors? Had they deserted Azkaban and joined Voldemort, as Dumbledore had predicted they would?**

"Not yet they haven't." Keiran said.

"Are you saying they will?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"You'll see." Said the future kids.

**"These Demembers guard some weirdo's prison?" asked Uncle Vernon, lumbering along in the wake of Cris' train of thought.**

**"Yes," said Cris.**

**If only her head would stop hurting, if only she could just leave the kitchen and get to her dark bedroom and think…**

**"Oho! They were coming to arrest you!" said Uncle Vernon, with the triumphant air of a man reaching an unassailable conclusion. "That's it, isn't it, girl? You're on the run from the law!"**

"Of course she isn't, you big buffoon." McGonagall scoffed.

**"Of course I'm not," said Cris, shaking he head as though to scare off a fly, her mind racing now.**

**"Then why -?"**

**"He must have sent them," said Cris quietly, more to herself than to Uncle Vernon.**

**"What's that? Who must have sent them?"**

**"Lord Voldemort," said Cris.**

**She registered dimly how strange it was that the Dursley's, who flinched, winced and squawked if they heard words like 'wizard', 'magic' or 'wand', could hear the name of the most evil wizard of all time without the slightest tremor.**

"I told your Aunt though; she should know at least who he is." Dumbledore said.

**"Lord - hang on," said Uncle Vernon, his face screwed up, a look of dawning comprehension coming into his piggy eyes. "I've heard that name… that was the one who —"**

**"Murdered my parents, yes," Cris said dully.**

**"But he's gone," said Uncle Vernon impatiently, without the slightest sign that the murder of Cris' parents might be a painful topic. "That giant bloke said so. He's gone." **

"That doesn't mean he couldn't come back." Bill said.

**"He's back," said Cris heavily.**

**It felt very strange to be standing here in Aunt Petunia's surgically clean kitchen, beside the top of-the-range fridge and the wide-screen television, talking calmly of Lord Voldemort to Uncle Vernon. The arrival of the Dementors in Little Whinging seemed to have breached the great, invisible wall that divided the relentlessly non-magical world of Privet Drive and the world beyond, Cris' two lives had somehow become fused and everything had been turned upside-down; the Dursley's were asking for details about the magical world, and Mrs. Figg knew Albus Dumbledore; Dementors were soaring around Little Whinging, and she might never return to Hogwarts. Cris' head throbbed more painfully.**

**"Back?" whispered Aunt Petunia.**

"She would know some, I told something that is, when she would listen." Lily said.

**She was looking at Cris as she had never looked at her before. And all of a sudden, for the very first time in her life, Cris fully appreciated that Aunt Petunia was her mother's sister. She could not have said why this hit her so very powerfully at this moment. All she knew was that she was not the only person in the room who had an inkling of what Lord Voldemort being back might mean. **

"Well at least there's that." Tonks said.

"Yeah, that way I didn't have to explain everything to them." Cris said.

"And it probably would have been hard to explain everything with as little as you know." Remus said.

"Yeah,"

**Aunt Petunia had never in her life looked at her like that before. Her large, pale eyes (so unlike her sister's) were not narrowed in dislike or anger, they were wide and fearful.**

**The furious pretence that Aunt Petunia had maintained all Cris' life - that there was no magic and no world other than the world she inhabited with Uncle Vernon - seemed to have fallen away.**

**"Yes," Cris said, talking directly to Aunt Petunia now. "He came back a month ago. I saw him."**

**Her hands found Dudley's massive leather-clad shoulders and clutched them.**

**"Hang on," said Uncle Vernon, looking from his wife to Cris and back again, apparently dazed and confused by the unprecedented understanding that seemed to have sprung up between them.**

**"Hang on. This Lord Voldything's back, you say."**

"Brilliant!" cried the pranksters.

"No not brilliant, that is the kind of behavior that'll get you killed." Mrs. Weasley snapped at her children.

**"Yes."**

**"The one who murdered your parents."**

"Well, he said that rather bluntly," Sirius said.

"It's not that bad considering what they used to tell me." Cris said.

"And I could still strangle them for that." Lily said.

**"Yes."**

**"And now he's sending Dismembers after you?"**

**"Looks like it," said Cris.**

**"I see," said Uncle Vernon, looking from his white - faced wife to Cris and hitching up his trousers. He seemed to be swelling, his great purple face stretching before Cris' eyes. "Well, that settles it," he said, his shirt front straining as he inflated himself, "you can get out of this house, girl!"**

"He's kicking you out?!" shouted Mrs. Weasley.

"It wasn't the first time," Cris mumbled.

"But it's not safe, and we told you not to leave." Mr. Weasley said.

"Well, I obviously didn't leave." Cris said.

"What made him change his mind?" Charlie asked. Cris didn't say anything except smirk over at him.

**"What?" said Cris.**

**"You heard me - OUT!" Uncle Vernon bellowed, and even Aunt Petunia and Dudley jumped.**

**"OUT! OUT! I should've done this years ago! Owls treating the place like a rest home, puddings exploding, half the lounge destroyed, Dudley's tail, Marge bobbing around on the ceiling and that flying Ford Anglia - OUT! OUT! You've had it! You're history! You're not staying here if some loony's after you, you're not endangering my wife and son, you're not bringing trouble down on us. If you're going the same way as your useless parents, I've had it! OUT!"**

Growls were heard around the room at that.

"How did you get out of this one?" Gwen asked.

"You'll see." Cris said.

**Cris stood rooted to the spot. The letters from the Ministry, Mr. Weasley and Sirius were all crushed in her left hand. Don't leave the house again, whatever you do. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR AUNT AND UNCLE'S HOUSE.**

"So you have to disobey someone." Padfoot said.

"It better be your uncle." Prongs said.

**"You heard me!" said Uncle Vernon, bending forward now, his massive purple face coming so close to Cris', she actually felt flecks of spit hit her face. "Get going! You were all keen to leave half an hour ago! I'm right behind you! Get out and never darken our doorstep again! Why we ever kept you in the first place, I don't know, Marge was right, it should have been the orphanage. We were too damn soft for our own good, thought we could squash it out of you, thought we could turn you normal, but you've been rotten from the beginning and I've had enough - owls!" **

"Can I kill them?" Sirius asked.

"No, Siri, you can't, Cris still needs you." Robin said.

"Alright," Sirius said pouting.

**The fifth owl zoomed down the chimney so fast it actually hit the floor before zooming into the air again with a loud screech. Cris raised her hand to seize the letter, which was in a scarlet envelope, but it soared straight over her head, flying directly at Aunt Petunia, who let out a scream and ducked, her arms over her face. The owl dropped the red envelope on her head, turned, and flew straight back up the chimney.**

"Who wrote to her?" Ron asked.

"I still don't know." Cris said.

**Cris darted forwards to pick up the letter, but Aunt Petunia beat her to it.**

**"You can open it if you like," said Cris, "but I'll hear what it says anyway. That's a Howler."**

**"Let go of it, Petunia!" roared Uncle Vernon. "Don't touch it, it could be dangerous!"**

"It's not dangerous, that is if it doesn't have a curse or something that in it." Tonks said.

**"It's addressed to me," said Aunt Petunia in a shaking voice. "It's addressed to me, Vernon, look! Mrs. Petunia Dursley, The Kitchen, Number Four, Privet Drive –"**

**She caught her breath, horrified. The red envelope had begun to smoke.**

**"Open it!' Cris urged her. "Get it over with! It'll happen anyway."**

**"No."**

**Aunt Petunia's hand was trembling. She looked wildly around the kitchen as though looking for an escape route, but too late -the envelope burst into flames. Aunt Petunia screamed and dropped it.**

**An awful voice filled the kitchen, echoing in the confined space, issuing from the burning letter on the table.**

_**Remember my last, Petunia.**_

"You didn't recognize the voice?" Sirius asked. Cris shook her head; she had no idea who had sent a howler to her aunt.

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she might faint. She sank into the chair beside Dudley, her face in her hands. The remains of the envelope smoldered into ash in the silence.**

**"What is this?" Uncle Vernon said hoarsely. "What - I don't -Petunia?"**

**Aunt Petunia said nothing. Dudley was staring stupidly at his mother, his mouth hanging open.**

**The silence spiraled horribly. Cris was watching her aunt, utterly bewildered, her head throbbing fit to burst.**

**"Petunia, dear?" said Uncle Vernon timidly. "P-Petunia?"**

**She raised her head. She was still trembling. She swallowed.**

**"The girl - the girl will have to stay, Vernon," she said weakly.**

"You have no idea how shocked I was. Aunt Petunia always agreed with everything Uncle Vernon always said." Cris said.

"I understand that cub." Remus said.

**"W-what?"**

**"She stays," she said. She was not looking at Cris. She got to her feet again.**

**"She… but Petunia…"**

**"If we throw her out, the neighbors will talk," she said. She was rapidly regaining her usual brisk, snappish manner, though she was still very pale. "They'll ask awkward questions, they'll want to know where she's gone. We'll have to keep her."**

"Nice reason," Gwen said, "I would have told my parents and then we would have called the police and filed a missing persons report or something."

"I'm glad you didn't though." Cris said.

"Yeah, it would have been hard to find you." Gwen said.

**Uncle Vernon was deflating like an old tire.**

**"But Petunia, dear –"**

**Aunt Petunia ignored him. She turned to Cris. "You're to stay in your room," she said. "You're not to leave the house. Now get to bed."**

**Cris didn't move.**

**"Who was that Howler from?"**

**"Don't ask questions," Aunt Petunia snapped.**

"And back to her normal response after every question you ask." Remus said.

"Yeah," Cris said.

**"Are you in touch with wizards?"**

**"I told you to get to bed!"**

**"What did it mean? Remember the last what?"**

"She is going to have a problem getting you to not question her." Hermione said.

"I know," Cris said with a smirk.

**"Go to bed!"**

**"How come -?"**

**"YOU HEARD YOUR AUNT, NOW GET TO BED!" **

"That's the chapter. That had a lot of yelling." Lily said. She handed the book to Moony.

"You think that's a lot of yelling? Wait until Cris gets out of there." Ron said.

"Alright." Prongs said. Moony then started the next chapter.


	4. Chapter 3: The Advance Guard

"**Chapter 3: The Advance Guard," **Moony read.

"What's that?" Padfoot asked.

"Someone to take Cris from that awful place." Lily suggested.

"Maybe," Prongs said.

_**I've just been attacked by Dementors and I might be expelled from Hogwarts. I want to know what's going on and when I'm going to get out of here.**_

**Cris copied these words on to three separate pieces of parchment the moment she reached the desk in her dark bedroom. She addressed the first to Sirius, the second to Ron and the third to Hermione.**

"You have no idea how freaked we were when we heard that." Fred said.

"Sorry," Cris said sheepishly.

**Her owl, Hedwig, was off hunting; her cage stood empty on the desk. Cris paced the bedroom waiting for her to come back, her head pounding, her brain too busy for sleep even though her eyes stung and itched with tiredness. Her back ached from hauling Dudley home, and the two lumps on her head where the window and Dudley had hit her were throbbing painfully.**

**Up and down she paced, consumed with anger and frustration, grinding her teeth and clenching his fists, casting angry looks out at the empty, star-strewn sky every time she passed the window. Dementors sent to get her, Mrs. Figg and Mundungus Fletcher tailing her in secret, then suspension from Hogwarts and a hearing at the Ministry of Magic - and still no one was telling her what was going on.**

**And what, what, had that Howler been about? Whose voice had echoed so horribly, so menacingly, through the kitchen? **

"I think we'd all like to know that." Tonks said.

"I think it's Dumbledore." Bill said.

"What makes you think that?" Charlie asked his older brother.

"I don't know, just a feeling I have." Bill said.

"We'll just have to wait a see then." Sirius said.

**Why was she still trapped here without information? Why was everyone treating her like some naughty kid? Don't do any more magic, stay in the house…**

**She kicked her school trunk as she passed it, but far from relieving her anger she felt worse, as she now had a sharp pain in her toe to deal with in addition to the pain in the rest of her body.**

**Just as she limped past the window, Hedwig soared through it with a soft rustle of wings like a small ghost.**

**"About time!" Cris snarled, as she landed lightly on top of her cage. "You can put that down, I've got work for you!"**

"Don't take it out on Hedwig!" cried Lily.

"Sorry, I was frustrated and to top it off no one was telling me anything, keeping me in the dark. It made me feel like when I was younger, having all these questions and no one willing to tell, having all these things happening to me and I had no idea what was happening, it scared me." Cris said. The adults stared at her, not really knowing how to respond to that. Hermione and Ron stared at her in shock, Hermione and Ginny had tears in their eyes and the twins held her tighter to them not wanting to let her go.

"Oh pup, I'm so sorry." Sirius said. Cris looked over to her godfather and got up and went over to him. Cris hugged him and he hugged her back as she crawled into his lap.

"It wasn't your fault; you thought you were doing the right thing." Cris whispered. Sirius hugged her tighter and motioned for Moony to continue reading.

**Hedwig's large, round; amber eyes gazed at her reproachfully over the dead frog clamped in her beak.**

**"Come here," said Cris, picking up the three small rolls of parchment and a leather thong and tying the scrolls to her scaly leg. "Take these straight to Sirius, Ron and Hermione and don't come back here without good long replies. Keep pecking them till they've written decent-length answers if you've got to. Understand?" **

"You have no idea how bad that hurt pup." Sirius said with a chuckle.

"Sorry," Cris mumbled.

"It was pretty funny though." Remus said.

**Hedwig gave a muffled hooting noise, her beak still full of frog.**

**"Get going, then," said Cris.**

**She took off immediately. The moment she'd gone, Cris threw herself down on her bed without undressing and stared at the dark ceiling. In addition to every other miserable feeling, she now felt guilty that she'd been irritable with Hedwig; she was the only friend she had at number four, Privet Drive, besides Gwen that is. But she'd make it up to her when she came back with the answers from Sirius, Ron and Hermione.**

"I bought her some nice owl treats in Hogsmeade." Cris mumbled. She had yet to move from her godfather's lap.

**They were bound to write back quickly; they couldn't possibly ignore a Dementor attack. **

"No, but we were told not to write back." Hermione said.

"Why not!" snapped Lily.

"Maybe because they were going to go and get her." Prongs said.

"That's possible," Lily said.

**She'd probably wake up tomorrow to three fat letters full of sympathy and plans for her immediate removal to The Burrow. And with that comforting idea, sleep rolled over her, stifling all further thought.**

**But Hedwig didn't return next morning. Cris spent the day in her bedroom, leaving it only to go to the bathroom. Three times that day Aunt Petunia shoved food into her room through the cat flap Uncle Vernon had installed three summers ago.**

Everyone growled at the mention of the flap.

**Every time Cris heard her approaching she tried to question her about the Howler, but she might as well have interrogated the doorknob for all the answers she got.**

"Why did you question her?" George asked.

"I thought she might answer." Cris said with a shrug.

**Otherwise, the Dursley's kept well clear of her bedroom. Cris couldn't see the point of forcing her company on them; another row would achieve nothing except perhaps make her so angry she'd perform more illegal magic.**

"Not if you don't use you wand, you didn't get a warning for the sparks or zapping your uncle." Sirius said. Cris smiled up at her godfather.

**So it went on for three whole days. Cris was alternately filled with restless energy that made her unable to settle to anything, during which time she paced her bedroom, furious at the whole lot of them for leaving her to stew in this mess; and with a lethargy so complete that she could lie on her bed for an hour at a time, staring dazedly into space, aching with dread at the thought of the Ministry hearing.**

**What if they ruled against her? What if she was expelled and her wand was snapped in half? What would she do, where would she go? She could not return to living full-time with the Dursley's, not now she knew the other world, the one to which she really belonged. Might she be able to move into Sirius's house, as Sirius had suggested a year ago, before she had been forced to flee from the Ministry? Would Cris be allowed to live there alone, given that she was still underage? Or would the matter of where she went next be decided for her? Had her breach of the International Statute of Secrecy been severe enough to land her in a cell in Azkaban?**

"And that is what you get when you leave her to sit and stew, you get these type of thoughts." Remus said.

"Yeah, it's not exactly healthy being there either, I barely weigh anything." Cris said.

"No kidding, you're really light kiddo." Sirius said.

**Whenever this thought occurred, Cris invariably slid off her bed and began pacing again.**

**On the fourth night after Hedwig's departure Cris was lying in one of her apathetic phases, staring at the ceiling, her exhausted mind quite blank, when her uncle entered her bedroom. Cris looked slowly around at him. Uncle Vernon was wearing his best suit and an expression of enormous smugness.**

**"We're going out," he said. **

"I think she can figure it out by herself." Charlie said with a laugh.

**"Sorry?"**

**"We - that is to say, your aunt, Dudley and I - are going out."**

**"Fine," said Cris dully, looking back at the ceiling.**

**"You are not to leave your bedroom while we are away."**

**"Okay."**

**"You are not to touch the television, the stereo, or any of our possessions."**

**"Right."**

**"You are not to steal food from the fridge."**

**"Okay."**

**"I am going to lock your door."**

"They are treating you like a prisoner." Mrs. Weasley snapped.

"It's not surprising really, I've become used it." Cris said.

"You shouldn't have to get used to it." Sirius said.

**"You do that."**

**Uncle Vernon glared at Cris, clearly suspicious of this lack of argument, then stomped out of the room and closed the door behind him. Cris heard the key turn in the lock and Uncle Vernon's footsteps walking heavily down the stairs. A few minutes later she heard the slamming of car doors, the rumble of an engine, and the unmistakable sound of the car sweeping out of the drive.**

**Cris had no particular feeling about the Dursley's leaving. It made no difference to her whether they were in the house or not. She could not even summon the energy to get up and turn on her bedroom light. The room grew steadily darker around her as she lay listening to the night sounds through the window she kept open all the time, waiting for the blessed moment when Hedwig returned. The empty house creaked around her. The pipes gurgled. Cris lay there in a kind of stupor, thinking of nothing, suspended in misery.**

**Then, quite distinctly, she heard a crash in the kitchen below.**

Tonks blushed at that.

"Who is it?" Lily asked fretfully.

"Nobody too dangerous." Cris said. That did nothing to sooth her mother's worriedness.

**She sat bolt upright, listening intently. The Dursley's couldn't be back, it was much too soon, and in any case she hadn't heard their car.**

**There was silence for a few seconds, then voices. **

"Well it's not Burglars, they would be quiet about it." Gwen said.

"Then who is it?" Prongs asked.

"You'll see," Cris said.

**Burglars, she thought, sliding off the bed on to her feet - but a split second later it occurred to her that burglars would keep their voices down, and whoever was moving around in the kitchen was certainly not troubling to do so.**

"Well if it isn't Burglars they can still be dangerous." Padfoot said.

"Very true," Gwen said.

**She snatched up her wand from the bedside table and stood facing her bedroom door, listening with all her might. Next moment, she jumped as the lock gave a loud click and her door swung open. Cris stood motionless, staring through the open doorway at the dark upstairs landing, straining her ears for further sounds, but none came. She hesitated for a moment, then moved swiftly and silently out of her room to the head of the stairs.**

**Her heart shot upwards into her throat. There were people standing in the shadowy hall below, silhouetted against the streetlight glowing through the glass door; eight or nine of them, all, as far as she could see, looking up at her.**

**"Lower your wand, girl, before you take someone's eye out," said a low, growling voice.**

"Oh good, it's Moody." Lily said breathing a sigh of relief.

**Cris' heart was thumping uncontrollably. She knew that voice, but she did not lower her wand. "Professor Moody?" she said uncertainly.**

**"I don't know so much about 'Professor'," growled the voice, "never got round to much teaching, did I? Get down here, we want to see you properly."**

"That tells you that it's really him." Bill said.

"But good job not lowering your defenses." Tonks said with a smile.

**She had very good reason to be suspicious. She had recently spent nine months in what she had thought was Mad-Eye Moody's company only to find out that it wasn't Moody at all, but an impostor; an impostor, moreover, who had tried to kill Cris before being unmasked. But before she could make a decision about what to do next, a second, slightly hoarse voice floated upstairs.**

**"It's all right, Cris. We've come to take you away."**

**Cris' heart leapt. She knew that voice, too, though she hadn't heard it for over a year.**

**"R-Remus?" she said disbelievingly. "Is that you?"**

"Why didn't you call him professor like the rest of us?" Hermione asked.

"We would write to each other, Remus was telling me about my parents and he said to call him Remus or Moony." Cris said with a shrug.

"I'm not a Professor anymore, so you don't have to call me that." Remus said. Hermione nodded as did the other students.

**"Why are we all standing in the dark?" said a third voice, this one completely unfamiliar, a woman's. "Lumos."**

**A wand-tip flared, illuminating the hall with magical light. Cris blinked. The people below were crowded around the foot of the stairs, gazing up at her intently, some craning their heads for a better look.**

**Remus Lupin stood nearest to her. Though still quite young, Lupin looked tired and rather ill; he had more grey hairs than when Cris had last said goodbye to him and his robes were more patched and shabbier than ever.**

Remus sighed and blushed at that.

"Finding a job is rather hard." Remus said.

"Which it shouldn't be, it's ridiculous." Robin said. She had tried her best to help her brother out through the years but sometimes he can be just so stubborn.

**Nevertheless, he was smiling broadly at Cris, who tried to smile back despite her state of shock.**

**"Oooh, she looks just like I thought she would," said the witch who was holding her lit wand aloft. She looked the youngest there; she had a pale heart-shaped face, dark twinkling eyes, and short spiky hair that was a violent shade of violet. "Wotcher, Cris!"**

"There I am, and I have a fairly good description." Tonks said.

"Lucky," everyone said.

**"Yeah, I see what you mean, Remus," said a bald black wizard standing furthest back -**

"That's all, a bald black wizard?" Kingsley asked.

"Sorry," Cris said sheepishly. Kingsley just chuckled not offended in the slightest.

**he had a deep, slow voice and wore a single gold hoop in his ear - "she looks exactly like James."**

**"Except the eyes," said a wheezy-voiced, silver-haired wizard at the back. "Lily's eyes."**

**Mad-Eye Moody, who had long grizzled grey hair and a large chunk missing from his nose, was squinting suspiciously at Cris through his mismatched eyes. One eye was small, dark and beady, the other large, round and electric blue - the magical eye that could see through walls, doors and the back of Moody's own head. "Are you quite sure it's her, Lupin?" he growled. "It'd be a nice lookout if we bring back some Death Eater impersonating her. We ought to ask her something only the real Potter would know. Unless anyone brought any Veritaserum?"**

"I think he's grown even more paranoid." Robin said.

"I didn't think it was possible." Tonks said.

**"Cris, what form does your Patronus take?" Remus asked.**

**"A stag," said Cris nervously.**

**"That's her, Mad-Eye," said Remus.**

**Very conscious of everybody still staring at her, Cris descended the stairs, stowing her wand in the back pocket of her jeans as she came.**

"I said not to put it there." Moody growled.

"Why, it seems like a good place to put it." Gwen asked.

"It'll explain I'm sure." Cris said before Moody could say anything.

**"Don't put your wand there, girl!" roared Moody. "What if it ignited? Better wizards than you have lost buttocks, you know!"**

**"Who d'you know who's lost a buttock?" the violet-haired woman asked Mad-Eye interestedly.**

**"Never you mind, you just keep your wand out of your back pocket!" growled Mad-Eye.**

"You know that really confused me, I had nowhere else to put it." Cris said.

"What about that hoody we bought? You can put it in that pocket." Gwen said.

"True, but it was really hot and I wasn't about to put on that hoody, though I wish I had it on later." Cris said.

"Why?" Lily asked.

"You'll see." Cris said.

**"Elementary wand-safety, nobody bothers about it anymore." He stumped off towards the kitchen. "And I saw that," he added irritably, as the woman rolled her eyes towards the ceiling. **

"That was the point." Tonks said grinning at her mentor.

**Remus hugged Cris and pulled back and looked at her.**

**"How are you?" he asked, looking closely at Cris.**

**"F-fine…"**

**Cris could hardly believe this was real. Four weeks with nothing, not the tiniest hint of a plan to remove her from Privet Drive, and suddenly a whole bunch of wizards was standing matter-of factly in the house as though this was a long-standing arrangement. She glanced at the people surrounding Remus; they were still gazing avidly at her. She felt very conscious of the fact that she had not combed her hair for four days, she had kept it pulled back in a ponytail and off of her neck and always retied it every morning.**

"I don't think it would have made a difference." Hermione said.

"It would have, it gets knotty very easily." Cris said.

"That's true," Ron and Neville said.

**"I'm - you're really lucky the Dursley's are out…" she mumbled.**

**"Lucky, ha!" said the violet-haired woman. "It was me who lured them out of the way. Sent a letter by Muggle post telling them they'd been short-listed for the All-England Best Kept Suburban Lawn Competition. They're heading off to the prize-giving right now… or they think they are." **

"Nice," the group said.

"That'll get them easily enough." Lily said.

**Cris had a fleeting vision of Uncle Vernon's face when he realized there was no All-England Best Kept Suburban Lawn Competition.**

"I really wanted to see that." Cris said.

"I know, but I don't think you wanted to be there for long." Sirius said.

"No, I wanted out of there so bad I could taste it." Cris said.

**"We are leaving, aren't we?" she asked. "Soon?"**

**"Almost at once," said Remus, "we're just waiting for the all-clear."**

**"Where are we going? The Burrow?" Cris asked hopefully.**

**"Not The Burrow, no,"**

"Then where are you going?" Prongs asked.

"Somewhere safe." Remus said.

**said Remus, motioning Cris towards the kitchen; the little knot of wizards followed, all still eyeing Cris curiously. "Too risky. We've set up Headquarters somewhere undetectable. It's taken a while…"**

**Mad-Eye Moody was now sitting at the kitchen table swigging from a hip flask, his magical eye spinning in all directions, taking in the Dursley's many labor-saving appliances.**

"I bet he was wondering if some of them would explode." Tonks said. Mad-Eye looked at her but didn't say anything else.

**"This is Alastor Moody, Cris" Remus continued, pointing towards Moody.**

**"Yeah, I know," said Cris uncomfortably. It felt odd to be introduced to somebody she'd thought she'd known for a year.**

"Yeah, I bet it would be weird." Lily said.

**"And this is Nymphadora -"**

"Oh-uh, you're in trouble now." Sirius said with a grin.

"You should have known better." Robin said as Tonks glared at Remus.

**"Don't call me Nymphadora, Remus," said the young witch with a shudder, "it's Tonks."**

**"Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be known by her surname only," finished Remus.**

"Are you trying to get hexed uncle Remus?" Keiran asked. Remus blushed at that and Sirius high-fived his son.

**"So would you if your fool of a mother had called you Nymphadora," muttered Tonks.**

"Ah, but you know how our family is." Sirius said.

"Oh yes, our crazy ass family and their weird names." Tonks said.

**"And this is Kingsley Shacklebolt." He indicated the tall black wizard, who bowed. **

**"Elphias Doge." The wheezy-voiced wizard nodded. "Dedalus Diggle -"**

**"We've met before," squeaked the excitable Diggle, dropping his violet-colored top hat. "Emmeline Vance." A stately-looking witch in an emerald green shawl inclined her head. "Sturgis Podmore." A square-jawed wizard with thick straw-colored hair winked. "And Hestia Jones." A pink-cheeked, black-haired witch waved form next to the toaster.**

Kingsley looked like he was blushing and Tonks was laughing at him.

**Cris inclined her head awkwardly at each of them as they were introduced. She wished they would look at something other than her; it was as though she had suddenly been ushered onstage. She also wondered why so many of them were there.**

**"A surprising number of people volunteered to come and get you," said Remus, as though he had read Cris' mind; the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.**

"I could tell what you were thinking; it was very similar to Lily's." Remus said. Cris blushed at that.

**"Yeah, well, the more the better," said Moody darkly. "We're your guard, Potter."**

**"We're just waiting for the signal to tell us it's safe to set off," said Remus, glancing out of the kitchen window. "We've got about fifteen minutes."**

**"Very clean, aren't they, these Muggles?" said the witch called Tonks, who was looking around the kitchen with great interest. "My dad's Muggle-born and he's a right old slob. I suppose it varies, just as it does with wizards?"**

**"Er - yeah," said Cris. "Look -" she turned back to Remus,**

"I understand, you knew Remus better at that point." Tonks said.

"I'm glad you understand." Cris said.

**"what's going on, I haven't heard anything from anyone, what's Vol—?"**

**Several of the witches and wizards made odd hissing noises; Dedalus Diggle dropped his hat again and Moody growled, "Shut up!"**

"Are you feeling alright Mad-Eye, usually you don't react like that to the name?" Robin asked.

"It wasn't the time or place to talk about it." Mad-Eye said.

**"What?" said Cris.**

**"We're not discussing anything here, it's too risky," said Moody, turning his normal eye on Cris. His magical eye remained focused on the ceiling. "Damn it," he added angrily, putting a hand up to the magical eye, "it keeps getting stuck - ever since that scum wore it."**

**And with a nasty squelching sound much like a plunger being pulled from a sink, he popped out his eye. **

"That's disgusting," Lily J said.

**"Mad-Eye, you do know that's disgusting, don't you?" said Tonks conversationally.**

**"Get me a glass of water, would you, Cris," requested Moody.**

**Cris crossed to the dishwasher, took out a clean glass and filled it with water at the sink, still watched eagerly by the band of wizards. Their relentless staring was starting to annoy her.**

"Sorry," Tonks and Kingsley said.

"It's alright," Cris said.

**"Cheers," said Moody, when Cris handed him the glass. He dropped the magical eyeball into the water and prodded it up and down;**

"That's a disturbing image." Gwen said.

"It really was." Cris said.

**the eye whizzed around, staring at them all in turn. "I want three hundred and sixty degrees visibility on the return journey."**

**"How're we getting - wherever we're going?" Cris asked.**

**"Brooms," said Remus. "Only way. You're too young to Apparate, they'll be watching the Floo Network and it's more than our life's worth to set up an unauthorized Portkey."**

**"Remus says you're a good flier," said Kingsley Shacklebolt in his deep voice.**

"She's brilliant, a natural." Sirius said squeezing her to him.

"Better than her dad, and that's saying something." Remus said.

"That's my girl." Prongs said smiling at his daughter.

**"She's excellent," said Remus, who was checking his watch. "Anyway, you'd better go and get packed, Cris, we want to be ready to go when the signal comes."**

**"I'll come and help you," said Tonks brightly.**

**She followed Cris back into the hall and up the stairs, looking around with much curiosity and interest.**

**"Funny place," she said. "It's a bit too clean, d'you know what I mean?**

"Yeah, my Aunt and Uncle are crazy about neatness." Cris said. "Which is why, my room, though messy is still enough to drive them up the wall. But they won't even go in there in fear of if I had a prank set up or something."

"Nice," the twins said.

**Bit unnatural. Oh, this is better," she added, as they entered Cris' bedroom and she turned on the light.**

**Her room was certainly much messier than the rest of the house. Confined to it for four days in a very bad mood, Cris had not bothered tidying up after herself. Most of the books she owned were strewn over the floor where she'd tried to distract herself with each in turn and thrown it aside; Hedwig's cage needed cleaning out and was starting to smell; and her trunk lay open, revealing a jumbled mixture of Muggle clothes and wizards' robes that had spilled on to the floor around it.**

"Cris," Lily groaned.

"Sorry mum, I really wasn't in the mood to clean." Cris said.

"That's understandable." Prongs said.

**Cris started picking up books and throwing them hastily into her trunk. Tonks paused at her open wardrobe to look critically at her reflection in the mirror on the inside of the door.**

**"You know, I don't think violet's really my color," she said pensively, tugging at a lock of spiky hair. "D'you think it makes me look a bit peaky?"**

**"Well, depends, do you think black is a better color on me or red?" said Cris, looking up at her over the top of Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland. Tonks turned to her to see Cris' hair had turned red. **

"**Cool, you're a metamorphmagus like me." Tonks said with a bright smile. **

"**Well, not really, I can just change my hair color." Cris said. Tonks smiled at her and changed her hair to a bright pink. **

"**If you want we can work on it later." She said. Cris smiled and nodded and packed away some of the new clothes into her trunk after the books and posters. **

"I still haven't done that yet." Tonks said.

"It's alright, I understand that." Cris said.

"**Being a metamorphmagus is great, it got me top marks in Concealment and Disguise during Auror training without any study at all." **

**"You're an Auror?" said Cris, impressed. Being a Dark-wizard-catcher was the only career she'd ever considered after Hogwarts.**

"And you do become one." Sirius said proudly. Cris smiled and got up and went back over to her boys who welcomed her back by each giving her a kiss.

**"Yeah," said Tonks, looking proud. "Kingsley is as well, he's a bit higher up than me, though. I only qualified a year ago. Nearly failed on Stealth and Tracking. I'm dead clumsy, did you hear me break that plate when we arrived downstairs?"**

"So it's because of me that you thought it was burglars." Tonks said with a smile.

"**That was you? I thought it was someone breaking in. Well then again you guys did break in." Cris said. **

"**We've got to get going, Cris, you're supposed to be packing." Tonks said guilty, looking around at the messy floor.**

"**Oh, yeah." Cris said going to the side table and picked up the novel she bowered from Gwen, she hadn't been able to read it in days but it was interesting. **

"What book was it?" Hermione asked.

"Anthony Horowitz's The Falcon's Malteser." Cris said.

"I love his books." Hermione said.

**"Don't be stupid, it'll be much quicker if I - pack!" cried Tonks, waving her wand in a long, sweeping movement over the floor.**

**Books, clothes, telescope and scales all soared into the air and flew pell-mell into the trunk.**

"That comes in handy." Bill said.

"I know, if it wasn't for the underage thing I would have done that all the time." Cris said.

"Wouldn't we all." Charlie said.

**"It's not very neat," said Tonks, walking over to the trunk and looking down at the jumble inside. "My mums got this knack of getting stuff to fit itself in neatly - she even gets the socks to fold themselves - but I've never mastered how she does it - it's a kind of flick -" She flicked her wand hopefully.**

**One of Cris' socks gave a feeble sort of wiggle and flopped back on top of the mess in the trunk.**

"Don't worry about it not everyone could be as neat as Andy." Sirius said.

"Don't I know it." Tonks said.

**"Ah, well," said Tonks, slamming the trunk's lid shut, "at least it's all in. That could do with a bit of cleaning, too." She pointed her wand at Hedwig's cage. "Scourgify." A few feathers and droppings vanished. "Well, that's a bit better - I've never quite got the hang of these householdy sort of spells. Right - got everything? Cauldron? Broom? Wow! - A Firebolt!"**

"Hey Sirius!" Tonks said looking over at her cousin.

"I'll think about it." Sirius said with a smirk. Tonks huffed and crossed her arms as the group laughed.

**Her eyes widened as they fell on the broomstick in Cris' right hand it was her pride and joy, a gift from Sirius, an international-standard broomstick.**

**"And I'm still riding a Comet Two Sixty" said Tonks enviously.**

"When you can stay on it." Charlie said. Tonks turned to glare at her best friend.

**"Ah well… wand still in your jeans? Both buttocks still on? Okay, let's go. Locomotor trunk."**

**Cris' trunk rose a few inches into the air. Holding her wand like a conductor's baton, Tonks made the trunk hover across the room and out of the door ahead of them, Hedwig's cage in her left hand. Cris followed her down the stairs carrying her broomstick.**

**Back in the kitchen Moody had replaced his eye, which was spinning so fast after its cleaning it made Cris feel sick to look at it. Kingsley Shacklebolt and Sturgis Podmore were examining the microwave and Hestia Jones was laughing at a potato peeler she had come across while rummaging in the drawers. **

**Remus was sealing a letter addressed to the Dursley's.**

"Why bother?" Prongs asked.

"To let them know where she had gone. Though now I know they won't give a damn." Remus said.

**"Excellent," said Remus, looking up as Tonks and Cris entered. "We've got about a minute, I think. We should probably get out into the garden so we're ready. Cris, I've left a letter telling your aunt and uncle not to worry –" **

"They won't," the twins snarled.

**"They won't," said Cris.**

**"- that you're safe -"**

"Like they'd care." Bill snarled. He came to see Cris as a sister and he would do anything for his siblings.

**"That'll just depress them."**

**"- and you'll see them next summer."**

**"Do I have to?"**

"You have no idea how badly I wanted to laugh, you sounded just like James there." Remus said. Cris grinned at her Uncle and Moony continued reading.

**Remus smiled but made no answer.**

**"Come here, girl," said Moody gruffly, beckoning Cris towards him with his wand. "I need to Disillusion you."**

**"You need to what?" said Cris nervously.**

**"Disillusionment Charm," said Moody, raising his wand. "Lupin says you've got an Invisibility Cloak, but it won't stay on while we're flying; this'll disguise you better. Here you go" - He rapped her hard on the top of the head and Cris felt a curious sensation as though Moody had just smashed an egg there; cold trickles seemed to be running down her body from the point the wand had struck.**

**"Nice one, Mad-Eye," said Tonks appreciatively, staring at Cris' midriff.**

**Cris looked down at her body, or rather, what had been her body, for it didn't look anything like her anymore. It was not invisible; it had simply taken on the exact color and texture of the kitchen unit behind her. She seemed to have become a human chameleon.**

"That is so cool." Gwen said.

"Don't mind her; she has a chameleon for a pet. She has been obsessed with them since like forever." Cris said with a smile. Gwen pouted and the group laughed.

**"Come on," said Moody, unlocking the back door with his wand. They all stepped outside on to Uncle Vernon's beautifully kept lawn.**

"So that's what the racket was a few hours later." Gwen said.

**"Clear night," grunted Moody, his magical eye scanning the heavens. "Could've done with a bit more cloud cover. Right, you," he barked at Cris," we're going to be flying in close formation. Tonks'll be right in front of you, keep close on her tail. Lupin'll be covering you from below I'm going to be behind you. The rest'll be circling us. We don't break ranks for anything, got me? If one of us is killed -"**

"It doesn't come to that does it?" Lily asked wide eyed.

"No, that's just Mad-Eye being paranoid." Tonks said. Lily took a breath of relief and sat back into Prongs' side.

**"Is that likely?" Cris asked apprehensively, but Moody ignored her.**

**"- the others keep flying, don't stop, don't break ranks. If they take out all of us and you survive, Cris, the rear guard are standing by to take over; keep flying east and they'll join you."**

**"Stop being so cheerful, Mad-Eye, she'll think we're not taking this seriously" said Tonks, as she strapped Cris' trunk and Hedwig's cage into a harness hanging from her broom.**

"You are definitely related to Sirius." Hermione said with a chuckle. Tonks just smiled at her.

**"I'm just telling the girl the plan," growled Moody. "Our jobs to deliver her safely to Headquarters and if we die in the attempt –"**

**"No one's going to die," said Kingsley Shacklebolt in his deep, calming voice. **

"Glad to help you Cris." Kingsley said.

**"Mount your brooms, that's the first signal!" said Remus sharply pointing into the sky.**

**Far, far above them, a shower of bright red sparks had flared among the stars, Cris recognized them at once as wand sparks. She swung her right leg over her Firebolt, gripped its handle tightly and felt it vibrating very slightly, as though it was as keen as she was to be up in the air once more.**

**"Second signal, let's go!" said Remus loudly as more sparks, green this time, exploded high above them.**

"It's like stop and go for the traffic lights." Gwen said.

"That's what I was thinking." Cris said.

"What?" asked the pure-bloods.

"It's how to make sure no accidents happen. Red means stop and green means go." Gwen said.

**Cris kicked off hard from the ground. The cool night air rushed through her hair as the neat square gardens of Privet Drive fell away, shrinking rapidly into a patchwork of dark greens and blacks, and every thought of the Ministry hearing was swept from her mind as though the rush of air had blown it out of her head. She felt as though her heart was going to explode with pleasure; she was flying again, flying away from Privet Drive as she'd been fantasizing about all summer, she was going home… for a few glorious moments, all her problems seemed to recede to nothing, insignificant in the vast, starry sky.**

**"Hard left, hard left, there's a Muggle looking up!" shouted Moody from behind her. Tonks swerved and Cris followed her, watching her trunk swinging wildly beneath her broom. "We need more height… give it another quarter of a mile!"**

"That Muggle might have been me." Gwen said.

"Is it dangerous to be up that high?" Lily asked.

"No, not unless you know how to flew." Prongs said.

**Cris' eyes watered in the chill as they soared upwards; she could see nothing below now but tiny pinpricks of light that were car headlights and streetlamps. Two of those tiny lights might belong to Uncle Vernon's car… the Dursley's would be heading back to their empty house right now, full of rage about the non-existent Lawn Competition… and Cris laughed aloud at the thought,**

"So that's why you laughed." Remus said.

"What, you thought it was something else?" Cris asked.

"I don't know, for all I know you left something there that might anger them even more." Remus said.

"No," Cris said.

**though her voice was drowned by the flapping robes of the others, the creaking of the harness holding her trunk and the cage, and the whoosh of the wind in their ears as they sped through the air. She had not felt this alive in a month, or this happy. **

"You shouldn't have to be in the air to feel that way pup." Sirius said.

"It's alright," Cris said.

**"Bearing south!" shouted Mad-Eye. "'Town ahead!"**

**They soared right to avoid passing directly over the glittering spider's web of lights below.**

**"Bear southeast and keep climbing, there's some low cloud ahead we can lose ourselves in!" called Moody.**

**"We're not going through clouds!" shouted Tonks angrily, "we'll get soaked, Mad-Eye!"**

"As much as I love flying I don't like flying while soaked." Cris said.

"That is very true." Bill said.

**Cris was relieved to hear her say this; her hands were growing numb on the Firebolt's handle.**

**She wished she had thought to put on a coat; she was starting to shiver.**

"Yeah, and I see what you meant by wishing you had on the hoody." Gwen said.

"Yeah," Cris said.

**They altered their course every now and then according to Mad-Eyes instructions. Cris' eyes were screwed up against the rush of icy wind that was starting to make her ears ache; she could remember being this cold on a broom only once before, during the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff in her third year, which had taken place in a storm. The guard around her was circling continuously like giant birds of prey. Cris lost track of time. She wondered how long they had been flying, it felt like an hour at least.**

"It did feel like that." Tonks said.

**"Turning southwest!" yelled Moody "We want to avoid the motorway!"**

**Cris was now so chilled she thought longingly of the snug, dry interiors of the cars streaming along below, then, even more longingly, of traveling by Floo powder; it might be uncomfortable to spin around in fireplaces but it was at least warm in the flames… **

**Kingsley Shacklebolt swooped around her, bald pate and earring gleaming slightly in the moonlight… now Emmeline Vance was on her right, her wand out, her head turning left and right… then she, too, swooped over her, to be replaced by Sturgis Podmore…**

**"We ought to double back for a bit, just to make sure we're not being followed!" Moody shouted. **

"If you were being followed then you would have seen someone by now." Padfoot said.

"Very true," Moony said.

**"ARE YOU MAD, MAD-EYE"' Tonks screamed from the front. "We're all frozen to our brooms! If we keep going off-course we're not going to get there until next week! Besides, we're nearly there now!"**

"Then just go down and get warm. I'd rather Cris not get sick." Lily said.

**"Time to start the descent!" came Remus' voice. "Follow Tonks, Cris!"**

**Cris followed Tonks into a dive. They were heading for the largest collection of lights she had yet seen, a huge, sprawling crisscrossing mass, glittering in lines and grids, interspersed with patches of deepest black. Lower and lower they flew, until Cris could see individual headlights and streetlamps, chimneys and television aerials. She wanted to reach the ground very much, though she felt sure someone would have to unfreeze her from her broom.**

"It wasn't that cold." Remus said.

"Did you see what I was wearing?" Cris asked.

"A tank top and capris," Hermione and Ginny said.

"I was freezing my butt off." Cris said.

**"Here we go!" called Tonks, and a few seconds later she had landed.**

**Cris touched down right behind her and dismounted on a patch of unkempt grass in the middle of a small square. Tonks was already unbuckling Cris' trunk. Shivering, Cris looked around.**

**The grimy fronts of the surrounding houses were not welcoming; some of them had broken windows, glimmering dully in the light from the streetlamps, paint was peeling from many of the doors and heaps of rubbish lay outside several sets of front steps. **

"Why does that sound so familiar?" Padfoot asked.

**"Where are we?" Cris asked, but Remus said quietly, "In a minute."**

**Moody was rummaging in his cloak, his gnarled hands clumsy with cold.**

**"Got it," he muttered, raising what looked like a silver cigarette lighter into the air and clicking it. **

"Is it the same from the first book?" Hermione asked.

"Indeed it is." Dumbledore said.

**The nearest streetlamp went out with a pop. **

**He clicked the unlighter again;**

"It's actually called the Deluminator." Dumbledore said.

**the next lamp went out; he kept clicking until every lamp in the square was extinguished and the only remaining light came from curtained windows and the sickle moon overhead.**

**"Borrowed it from Dumbledore," growled Moody, pocketing the Put-Outer. "That'll take care of any Muggles looking out of the window, see? Now come on, quick."**

"Then why do you need to be quick?" Gwen asked.

"You never know when someone will show up." Tonks said.

**He took Cris by the arm and led her from the patch of grass, across the road and on to the pavement; Remus and Tonks followed, carrying Cris' trunk between them, the rest of the guard, all with their wands out, flanking them.**

**The muffled pounding of a stereo was coming from an upper window in the nearest house. A pungent smell of rotting rubbish came from the pile of bulging bin-bags just inside the broken gate.**

**"Here," Moody muttered, thrusting a piece of parchment towards Cris' Disillusioned hand and holding his lit wand close to it, so as to illuminate the writing. "Read quickly and memorize."**

**Cris looked down at the piece of paper. The narrow handwriting was vaguely familiar. It said: The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.**

"What the bloody hell is it doing there?" Padfoot asked shocked.

"Well, it's mine now, and I am on the run so I can't really do anything against anyone, so since it's mine now I offered it to the Order." Sirius said.

"Well at least it's something." Padfoot said.

"That's the chapter." Moony said. He passed the book to Padfoot who started the next chapter.


	5. Chapter 4: Number Twelve Grimmauld Place

"**Chapter 4: Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place," **Padfoot read.

"Great, I had to get this chapter." Padfoot said.

"You'll be fine, mate," Prongs said.

**"****What's the Order of the -?" Cris began.**

**"****Not here, girl!" snarled Moody. "Wait till we're inside!"**

"Good, get her inside." Lily said.

**He pulled the piece of parchment out of Cris' hand and set fire to it with his wand-tip. As the message curled into flames and floated to the ground, Cris looked around at the houses again. They were standing outside number eleven; she looked to the left and saw number ten; to the right, however, was number thirteen.**

**"****But where's -?"**

**"****Think about what you've just memorized," said Remus quietly.**

**Cris thought, and no sooner had she reached the part about number twelve, Grimmauld Place, than a battered door emerged out of nowhere between numbers eleven and thirteen, followed swiftly by dirty walls and grimy windows. It was as though an extra house had inflated, pushing those on either side out of its way. Cris gaped at it. The stereo in number eleven thudded on. Apparently the Muggles inside hadn't felt anything.**

"That'll be because it's Unplottable." Padfoot said.

"And now it has the Fidelius charm on it." Sirius said.

"Good," Lily said. She wanted to make sure Cris would be alright and not get kidnapped again.

**"****Come on, hurry," growled Moody, prodding Cris in the back.**

"That hurt by the way." Cris said.

"Well at least it wasn't your healing tattoo." Gwen said.

"True, I might have cried, it was still tender at that point." Cris said.

**Cris walked up the worn stone steps, staring at the newly materialized door. Its black paint was shabby and scratched. The silver doorknocker was in the form of a twisted serpent. There was no keyhole or letterbox.**

"That will be my parents doing." Sirius said.

**Remus pulled out his wand and tapped the door once. Cris heard many loud, metallic clicks and what sounded like the clatter of a chain. The door creaked open.**

**"****Get in quick, Cris," Remus whispered, "but don't go far inside and don't touch anything." **

"Thank you Remus, you never know what my parents have hidden in there." Padfoot said.

**Cris stepped over the threshold into the almost total darkness of the hall. She could smell damp, dust and a sweetish, rotting smell; the place had the feeling of a derelict building. She looked over her shoulder and saw the others filing in behind her, Remus and Tonks carrying her trunk and Hedwig's cage. Moody was standing on the top step releasing the balls of light the Put-Outer had stolen from the streetlamps; they flew back to their bulbs and the square glowed momentarily with orange light before Moody limped inside and closed the front door, so that the darkness in the hall became complete.**

**"****Here -"**

**He rapped Cris hard over the head with his wand; Cris felt as though something hot was trickling down her back this time and knew that the Disillusionment Charm must have lifted.**

"Were you at least warm now?" Lily asked.

"Yep," Cris said smiling at her mum.

**"****Now stay still, everyone, while I give us a bit of light in here," Moody whispered.**

**The others' hushed voices were giving Cris an odd feeling of foreboding; it was as though they had just entered the house of a dying person. She heard a soft hissing noise and then old-fashioned gas lamps sputtered into life all along the walls, casting a flickering insubstantial light over the peeling wallpaper and threadbare carpet of a long, gloomy hallway, where a cobwebby chandelier glimmered overhead and age-blackened portraits hung crooked on the walls. Cris heard something scuttling behind the baseboard. Both the chandelier and the candelabra on a rickety table nearby were shaped like serpents.**

"But of course, the Blacks have been mainly in Slytherin until I got to school." Sirius said.

"And now we're in Gryffindor too!" Keiran and Scarlett said.

**There were hurried footsteps and Ron's mother, Mrs. Weasley, emerged from a door at the far end of the hall. She was beaming in welcome as she hurried towards them, though Cris noticed that she was rather thinner and paler than she had been last time she had seen her.**

**"****Oh, Cris, it's lovely to see you!" she whispered, pulling her into a rib-cracking hug before holding her at arm's length and examining her critically. "You're looking peaky; you need feeding up, but you'll have to wait a bit for dinner, I'm afraid."**

**She turned to the gang of wizards behind her and whispered urgently, "He's just arrived, the meetings started."**

"Oh Molly, if you really wanted her to stay out of it you shouldn't have said anything." Remus said.

"I know now, she's as stubborn as her mother." Mrs. Weasley said. Cris and Lily smiled at each other.

"You know what I just thought of?" Cris asked.

"What?" asked everyone.

"Padfoot is going to be reading me ranting to the two of you." Cris said to Ron and Hermione. Remus paled and turned to the younger version of his friend.

"Please don't scream any of it." Remus said.

"I'll try not to." Padfoot said and continued reading.

**The wizards behind Cris all made noises of interest and excitement and began filing past her towards the door through which Mrs. Weasley had just come. Cris made to follow Remus, but Mrs. Weasley held her back.**

**"****No, Cris, the meetings only for members of the Order. **

"Cris isn't going to like that." Prongs said.

"She didn't," Sirius said.

**Ron and Hermione are upstairs, you can wait with them until the meetings over, then we'll have dinner. And keep your voice down in the hall," she added in an urgent whisper.**

**"****Why?"**

**"****I don't want anything to wake up."**

"Yeah, that would have been bad." Bill said.

**"****What d'you -?"**

**"****I'll explain later, I've got to hurry, I'm supposed to be at the meeting - I'll just show you where you're sleeping."**

**Pressing her finger to her lips, she led her on tiptoe past a pair of long, moth-eaten curtains, behind which Cris supposed there must be another door, and after skirting a large umbrella stand that looked as though it had been made from a severed troll's leg they started up the dark staircase, **

"Which Tonks always trips over." Sirius said snickering.

"Oi!" Tonks said.

"It's okay; I used to trip over it all the time when we used to live there." Teddy said.

"Like mother like son." Robin said with a smile towards her nephew.

**passing a row of shrunken heads mounted on plaques on the wall. A closer look showed Cris that the heads belonged to house-elves. All of them had the same rather snout-like nose.**

"That's terrible!" Gwen said.

"It's tradition in the Black family." Sirius said grimly.

**Cris' bewilderment deepened with every step she took. What on earth were they doing in a house that looked as though it belonged to the darkest of wizards?**

"Well it did belong to them once." Sirius said.

"Well after the war it wasn't this dark, there are no heads and instead there are portraits of people we cared about up and its very bright now." Scarlett said.

"Thank god," said the group who were staying there.

**"****Mrs. Weasley, why -?"**

**"****Ron and Hermione will explain everything, dear, I've really got to dash," Mrs. Weasley whispered distractedly. "There -" they had reached the second landing, "- you're the door on the right. I'll call you when it's over."**

**And she hurried off downstairs again.**

**Cris crossed the dingy landing, turned the bedroom doorknob, which was shaped like a serpents head, and opened the door.**

**She caught a brief glimpse of a gloomy high-ceilinged, twin-bedded room; then there was a loud twittering noise, followed by an even louder shriek, and her vision was completely obscured by a large quantity of very bushy hair. **

"Thanks Cris." Hermione said dryly.

"Sorry," Cris said.

**Hermione had thrown herself on to her in a hug that nearly knocked her flat and stung her new tattoo on her shoulder blade, while Ron's tiny owl, Pigwidgeon, zoomed excitedly round and round their heads.**

**"****CRIS! Ron, she's here, Cris' here!**

"I think he can see that Hermione." Bill said. Hermione blushed brightly and hid her face in Ron's shoulder.

**We didn't hear you arrive! Oh, how are you? Are you all right? Have you been furious with us? I bet you have, I know our letters were useless - but we couldn't tell you anything, Dumbledore made us swear we wouldn't, oh, we've got so much to tell you, and you've got things to tell us - the Dementors! When we heard - and that Ministry hearing - it's just outrageous, I've looked it all up, they can't expel you, they just can't, there's provision in the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery for the use of magic in life-threatening situations -"**

"Good grief Mione, give her time to breathe." Charlie said.

"Yes, please." Padfoot said panting like the dog he could turn into.

**"****Let her breathe, Hermione," said Ron, grinning as he closed the door behind Cris. He seemed to have grown several more inches during their month apart, making him taller and more gangly looking than ever, though the long nose, bright red hair and freckles were the same.**

**Still beaming, Hermione let go of Cris, but before she could say another word there was a soft whooshing sound and something white soared from the top of a dark wardrobe and landed gently on Cris' shoulder. **

"Hedwig!" shouted the room.

**"****Hedwig!"**

**The snowy owl clicked her beak and nibbled her ear affectionately as Cris stroked her feathers.**

**"****She's been in a right state," said Ron. "Pecked us half to death when she brought your last letters, look at this -"**

**He showed Cris the index finger of his right hand, which sported a half-healed but clearly deep cut. **

"Sorry about that." Cris said. Ron brushed it away; he understood why she did it.

**"****Oh, yeah," Cris said. "Sorry about that, but I wanted answers, you know -"**

**"****We wanted to give them to you, mate," said Ron. "Hermione was going spare, she kept saying you'd do something stupid if you were stuck all on your own without news, but Dumbledore made us -"**

**"****- swear not to tell me," said Cris. "Yeah, Hermione's already said."**

"**Cris, what happened to your glasses?" Hermione asked. Cris looked at her and smiled, she knew that Hermione would be the first to notice.**

"**I got contacts, I didn't want to worry about not being able to see in case I lose my glasses." She said. **

"**What are contacts?" Ron asked. **

"**They are like glasses except they are over the eyes themselves." Hermione said. **

"**Nobody said anything about you leaving your aunt and uncles." Ron said. **

"**Well I did, I went with a friend and her parents." Cris said. **

"That was the first time I heard anything about you Gwen." Hermione said. Gwen smiled at Hermione.

"I'm that main reason she's still sane." Gwen said. Cris smiled at her and Padfoot continued reading.

**The warm glow that had flared inside her at the sight of her two best friends was extinguished as something icy flooded the pit of her stomach. All of a sudden - after yearning to see them for a solid month — she felt she would rather Ron and Hermione left her alone.**

"Here comes Cris' temper." George said.

"We could hear it from all the way downstairs." Tonks said. Cris blushed brightly and hid in Fred's chest this time.

**There was a strained silence in which Cris stroked Hedwig automatically, not looking at either of the others.**

**"****He seemed to think it was best," said Hermione rather breathlessly. "Dumbledore, I mean."**

**"****Right," said Cris. She noticed that her hands, too, bore the marks of Hedwig's beak and found that she was not at all sorry.**

"Cris!" Lily, Mrs. Weasley and Robin snapped.

"I know, I felt horrible about it afterward." Cris said.

"Well, there's that." Robin said.

**"****I think he thought you were safest with the Muggles -" Ron began.**

**"****Yeah?" said Cris, raising her eyebrows. "Have either of you been attacked by Dementors this summer?"**

**"Well, no-but that's why he's had people from the Order of the Phoenix tailing you all the time-"**

**Cris felt a great jolt in her guts as though she had just missed a step going downstairs. So everyone had known she was being followed, except her. **

"Yeah, you could have done that better, like maybe actually take away from there." Lily said.

"I thought she would be safest there." Dumbledore said.

"Oh yeah perfectly safe, have you seen how skinny she is?" Lily asked.

Nobody said anything for several minutes before Padfoot continued reading.

**"****Didn't work that well, though, did it?" said Cris, doing her utmost to keep her voice even. "Had to look after myself after all, didn't I?"**

**"****He was so angry," said Hermione, in an almost awestruck voice. "Dumbledore. We saw him. When he found out Mundungus had left before his shift had ended. He was scary."**

"I never want to see that again." Ron said shivering.

**"Well, I'm glad he left," Cris said coldly. "If he hadn't, I wouldn't have done magic and Dumbledore would probably have left me at Privet Drive all summer." **

"No, there were plans to get you out." Remus said.

"I didn't know that, I just wanted out of there." Cris said.

"I know pup, I know." Sirius said.

**"****Aren't you… aren't you worried about the Ministry of Magic hearing?" said Hermione quietly.**

**"****No," Cris lied defiantly. **

"You're a horrible liar." Hermione said.

"I've gotten better." Cris said.

"You have," Hermione said with a smile.

**She walked away from them, looking around, with Hedwig nestled contentedly on her shoulder, but this room was not likely to raise her spirits. It was dank and dark. A blank stretch of canvas in an ornate picture frame was all that relieved the bareness of the peeling walls, and as Cris passed it she thought she heard someone, who was lurking out of sight, snigger.**

"That'll be my great-great uncle Phineas; he was a headmaster at Hogwarts." Sirius said.

**"So why's Dumbledore been so keen to keep me in the dark?" Cris asked, still trying hard to keep her voice casual. "Did you - er - bother to ask him at all?"**

**She glanced up just in time to see them exchanging a look that told her she was behaving just as they had feared she would. It did nothing to improve her temper. **

Ron and Hermione blushed at that.

"I know you guys too well; you can't really hide anything from me." Cris said.

"Yeah, well we were hoping you wouldn't yell." Hermione said.

"Sorry," Cris said sheepishly.

**"****We told Dumbledore we wanted to tell you what was going on," said Ron. "We did, mate. But he's really busy now, we've only seen him twice since we came here and he didn't have much time, he just made us swear not to tell you important stuff when we wrote, he said the owls might be intercepted."**

"Well I can understand that, but couldn't have come up with a code word for something that people wouldn't understand in case it's intercepted. You have one for Sirius." Gwen said.

"That's actually not a bad idea." Remus said smiling at the Muggle girl. Gwen blushed and looked away. Viktor smiled at her and kissed her head making her blush even more.

**"****He could still've kept me informed if he'd wanted to," Cris said shortly. "You're not telling me he doesn't know ways to send messages without owls."**

**Hermione glanced at Ron and then said, "I thought that, too. But he didn't want you to know anything."**

**"****Maybe he thinks I can't be trusted," said Cris, watching their expressions.**

**"****Don't be thick," said Ron, looking highly disconcerted.**

**"****Or that I can't take care of myself."**

**"****Of course he doesn't think that!" said Hermione anxiously.**

**"****So how come I have to stay at the Dursley's while you two get to join in everything that's going on here?" said Cris, the words tumbling over one another in a rush, her voice growing louder with every word. "How come you two are allowed to know everything that's going on?" **

"They don't," Mrs. Weasley said.

"I didn't know that, I was just mad at being left there without knowing what was going on." Cris said. "I hate being stuck there, I know I have Gwen but there is only so much I can handle being at the Dursley's."

"We didn't know the extent of what you have gone through there, now we do so we can change it if we can." Sirius said.

**"****We're not!" Ron interrupted. "Mum won't let us near the meetings, she says we're too young -" But before he knew it, Cris was shouting.**

**"****SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS, BIG DEAL! YOU'VE STILL BEEN HERE, HAVEN'T YOU? YOU'VE STILL BEEN TOGETHER! ME, I'VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS' FOR A MONTH! AND I'VE HANDLED MORE THAN YOU TWO'VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT - WHO SAVED THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE? WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE? WHO SAVED BOTH YOUR SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS?" **

"Padfoot, lower the volume please." Moony said.

"Sorry mate," Padfoot said.

**Every bitter and resentful thought Cris had had in the past month was pouring out of her: her frustration at the lack of news, the hurt that they had all been together without her, her fury at being followed and not told about it - all the feelings she was half-ashamed of finally burst their boundaries. Hedwig took fright at the noise and soared off to the top of the wardrobe again; Pigwidgeon twittered in alarm and zoomed even faster around their heads.**

**"****WHO HAD TO GET PAST DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL THING LAST YEAR? WHO SAW HIM COME BACK? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? ME!" **

"We know Cris; you don't have to yell it out to the world." Sirius said.

"Hey!" Cris pouted.

**Ron was standing there with his mouth half-open, clearly stunned and at a loss for anything to say, while Hermione looked on the verge of tears.**

**"****BUT WHY SHOULD I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE BOTHER TO TELL ME WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?"**

"I know Bambi, I know." Fred said.

**"****Cris, we wanted to tell you, we really did -" Hermione began.**

**"****CAN'T'VE WANTED TO THAT MUCH, CAN YOU, OR YOU'D HAVE SENT ME AN OWL, BUT DUMBLEDORE MADE YOU SWEAR–"**

**"****Well, he did -"**

**"****FOUR WEEKS I'VE BEEN STUCK IN PRIVET DRIVE, NICKING PAPERS OUT OF BINS TO TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON -"**

**"****We wanted to -"**

**"****I SUPPOSE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING A REAL LAUGH, HAVEN'T YOU, ALL HOLED UP HERE TOGETHER -"**

"The yelling's over." Padfoot said with a smile. Many people uncovered their ears.

"And to think, Cris was a lot louder than that." Ron said.

"If the house hadn't been charmed people miles around would have heard you." Sirius said. Cris blushed brightly at that and looked away; she didn't realize she was that loud.

**"****No, honest -"**

**"****Cris we're really sorry!" said Hermione desperately, her eyes now sparkling with tears. "You're absolutely right, Cris - I'd be furious if it was me!"**

**Cris glared at her, still breathing deeply, then turned away from them again, pacing up and down. Hedwig hooted glumly from the top of the wardrobe. There was a long pause, broken only by the mournful creak of the floorboards below Cris' feet.**

**"****What is this place, anyway?" she shot at Ron and Hermione.**

**"****Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix," said Ron at once.**

"I didn't want you to start yelling again." Ron said.

"You terrifying when you yell." Hermione said.

"I wonder how we deal with it?" George asked Fred.

"I don't know," Fred said.

"Um, well, you just let mum yell, she usually does it though after we get into trouble at school." Lily J said.

"But she doesn't send us howlers; she talks to us about it when we get home." James said.

"Seems to work well too." Keiran said.

**"****Is anyone going to bother telling me what the Order of the Phoenix -?"**

**"****It's a secret society," said Hermione quickly. **

"So that's the key to get you three to spill everything." Ginny said.

"Not that we'll ever do that though." Neville said.

**"Dumbledore's in charge, he founded it. It's the people who fought against You-Know-Who last time."**

**"****Who's in it?" said Cris, coming to a halt with her hands in her pockets.**

**"****Quite a few people -"**

**"****We've met about twenty of them," said Ron, "but we think there are more."**

"Yeah, a lot more." Remus said with a chuckle.

**Cris glared at them.**

**"****Well?" she demanded, looking from one to the other.**

**"****Er," said Ron. "Well what?"**

**"****Voldemort!" said Cris furiously, and both Ron and Hermione winced. **

"It's just a name." Cris said. "When do they say it?" she asked her kids.

"I don't know, maybe later this year for Aunt Hermione and I think maybe 6 or 7th year for Uncle Ron." Lily J said.

"Okay," Cris said with a sigh to her two friends.

**"****What's happening? What's he up to? Where is he? What are we doing to stop him?"**

**"****We've told you, the Order don't let us in on their meetings," said Hermione nervously. "So we don't know the details - but we've got a general idea," she added hastily, seeing the look on Cris' face.**

**"****Fred and George have invented Extendable Ears, see," said Ron. "They're really useful."**

"What now?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"You should know that teens, especially pranksters they will find ways to find things out." Remus said.

"Very true," Bill said.

**"****Extendable -?"**

**"Ears, yeah. Only we've had to stop using them lately because Mum found out and went berserk. Fred and George had to hide them all to stop Mum binning them. But we got a good bit of use out of them before Mum realized what was going on. We know some of the Order are following known Death Eaters, keeping tabs on them, you know -"**

**"****Some of them are working on recruiting more people to the Order -" said Hermione.**

**"****And some of them are standing guard over something," said Ron. "They're always talking about guard duty."**

"Of course they would know about that." Snape muttered.

"Like Remus said, they will stop at nothing to find something out if it's something they are concerned about." Robin said.

"Then you should really let them in. I mean, they won't be doing anything dangerous but they can get the word out to their fellow students. You'd be very surprised how teens can get other teens to listen to them and get them ready for something." Gwen said. Everyone looked at her, that is exactly what Cris, Ron and Hermione did.

**"****Couldn't have been me, could it?" said Cris sarcastically.**

**"****Oh, yeah," said Ron, with a look of dawning comprehension.**

**Cris snorted. She walked around the room again, looking anywhere but at Ron and Hermione.**

**"****So, what have you two been doing, if you're not allowed in meetings?" she demanded. "You said you'd been busy"'**

**"****We have," said Hermione quickly. "We've been decontaminating this house, it's been empty for ages and stuff's been breeding in here. We've managed to clean out the kitchen, most of the bedrooms and I think we're doing the drawing room tomo-" **

"How long was it empty?" Padfoot asked.

"About fourteen or so years." Sirius said with a shrug.

**With two loud cracks, Fred and George, Ron's elder twin brothers, had materialized out of thin air in the middle of the room. Pigwidgeon twittered more wildly than ever and zoomed off to join Hedwig on top of the wardrobe.**

"How did you two do that?" Gwen asked.

"It's apparition." Cris said.

"Oh, that thing." Gwen said.

**"****Stop doing that!" Hermione said weakly to the twins, who were as vividly red-haired as Ron, though stockier and slightly shorter.**

**"****Hello, Cris," said George, beaming at her. "We thought we heard your dulcet tones."**

**"****You don't want to bottle up your anger like that, Cris, let it all out," said Fred, also beaming.**

**"****There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear you." Cris blushed furiously at that she had come to really appreciate their timing and they always knew how to cheer her up.**

"And the crush begins." Lily J whispered to Teddy who chuckled at that.

**"****You two passed your Apparation tests, then?" asked Cris grumpily though her mood was lightening now.**

**"****With distinction," said Fred, who was holding what looked like a piece of very long, flesh colored string.**

"Is that those extendable ears?" Prongs asked. Fred and George nodded and Prongs looked interested.

**"****It would have taken you about thirty seconds longer to walk down the stairs," said Ron.**

**"****Time is Galleons, little brother," said Fred. **

**"****Anyway, Cris, you're interfering with reception. Extendable Ears," he added in response to Cris' raised eyebrows, and held up the string which Cris now saw was trailing out on to the landing. "We're trying to hear what's going on downstairs."**

**"****You want to be careful," said Ron, staring at the Ear, "if Mum sees one of them again…"**

**"****It's worth the risk, that's a major meeting they're having," said Fred.**

**The door opened and a long mane of red hair appeared.**

**"****Oh, hello, Cris!" said Ron's younger sister, Ginny, brightly. **

"And now the whole gang is there, well almost everyone." Gwen said.

"Well, we can't all be there." Neville said.

**"****I thought I heard your voice."**

**Turning to Fred and George, she said, "It's no-go with the Extendable Ears, she's gone and put an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door."**

**"****How d'you know?" said George, looking crestfallen.**

**"****Tonks told me how to find out," said Ginny. "You just chuck stuff at the door and if it can't make contact the door's been Imperturbed. I've been flicking Dungbombs at it from the top of the stairs and they just soar away from it, so there's no way the Extendable Ears will be able to get under the gap."**

"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed shocked while glaring at Tonks.

"What do you expect; she has Fred and George as brothers." Sirius said.

"I was hoping she would pick up on those habits." Mrs. Weasley mumbled.

**Fred heaved a deep sigh.**

**"****Shame. I really fancied finding out what old Snape's been up to."**

"I bet that shocked you." Robin said.

"Yep," Cris said.

**"Snape!" said Cris quickly. "Is he here?"**

**"****Yeah," said George, carefully closing the door and sitting down on one of the beds; Fred and Ginny followed. "Giving a report. Top secret."**

**"****Git," said Fred idly.**

**"****He's on our side now," said Hermione reprovingly.**

"Doesn't mean anything though." Cris said.

**Ron snorted. "Doesn't stop him being a git. The way he looks at us when he sees us."**

**"****Bill doesn't like him, either," said Ginny, as though that settled the matter.**

**Cris was not sure her anger had abated yet; but her thirst for information was now overcoming her urge to keep shouting. She sank on to the bed opposite the others.**

**"****Is Bill here?" she asked. "I thought he was working in Egypt?"**

**"****He applied for a desk job so he could come home and work for the Order," said Fred. **

"Well at least he's home." Lily said.

"Bill was but not Charlie." Mrs. Weasley said.

**"He says he misses the tombs, but;" he smirked, "there are compensations."**

**"****What d'you mean?"**

**"****Remember old Fleur Delacour?" said George. "She's got a job at Gringotts to eempwve 'er Eeenglish -"**

Bill and Fleur blushed brightly at that. Which made everyone laugh at that while Mrs. Weasley looked at her son and his future bride.

**"****And Bill's been giving her a lot of private lessons," sniggered Fred.**

His siblings started snickering and he glared at them.

"So Bill, what kind of lessons were you giving her?" Sirius asked waggling his eyebrows.

"Sirius, we know they get married and have kids." Robin said. Bill sent her a thank you look and Padfoot continued reading.

**"Charlie's in the Order, too," said George, "but he's still in Romania. Dumbledore wants as many foreign wizards brought in as possible, so Charlie's trying to make contacts on his days off."**

"No wonder you looked pale, almost everyone was in the Order." Lily said.

**"Couldn't Percy do that?" Cris asked. The last she had heard, the third Weasley brother was working in the Department of International Magical Co-operation at the Ministry of Magic.**

"See, without her around she doesn't know what happens to her friends." Lily said.

**At Cris' words, all the Weasleys and Hermione exchanged darkly significant looks.**

Percy looked down; he didn't realize how badly he treated his family.

**"****Whatever you do, don't mention Percy in front of Mum and Dad," Ron told Cris in a tense voice.**

**"****Why not?"**

**"Because every time Percy's name's mentioned, Dad breaks whatever he's holding and Mum starts crying," Fred said.**

"What did he do?" Gwen asked.

**"****It's been awful," said Ginny sadly.**

**"****I think we're well shut of him," said George, with an uncharacteristically ugly look on his face.**

**"****What's happened?" Cris said.**

**"Percy and Dad had a row," said Fred. "I've never seen Dad row with anyone like that. It's normally Mum who shouts."**

"Yeah, the nicer someone is the worse it is that they yell." Prongs said.

"That's how it usually works." Moony said.

**"****It was the first week back after term ended," said Ron. "We were about to come and join the Order. Percy came home and told us he'd been promoted."**

"Well that's cool." Gwen said.

**"****You're kidding?" said Cris.**

**Though she knew perfectly well that Percy was highly ambitious, Cris' impression was that Percy had not made a great success of his first job at the Ministry of Magic. Percy had committed the fairly large oversight of failing to notice that his boss was being controlled by Lord Voldemort (not that the Ministry had believed it - they all thought Mr. Crouch had gone mad).**

"So why did he get promoted?" Lily asked.

"I think that's a bit obvious love." Prongs said.

**"****Yeah, we were all surprised," said George, "because Percy got into a load of trouble about Crouch, there was an inquiry and everything. They said Percy ought to have realized Crouch was off his rocker and informed a superior. But you know Percy, Crouch left him in charge, he wasn't going to complain."**

"Of course not." Gwen said under her breath.

**"****So how come they promoted him?"**

**"That's exactly what we wondered," said Ron, who seemed very keen to keep normal conversation going now that Cris had stopped yelling. "He came home really pleased with himself - even more pleased than usual, if you can imagine that - and told Dad he'd been offered a position in Fudge's own office. A really good one for someone only a year out of Hogwarts: Junior Assistant to the Minister. He expected Dad to be all impressed, I think."**

"Well we thought there were Death Eaters in the inner circle of Fudge and I didn't really want any of my children near them." Mr. Weasley said. Percy looked over at his father, no wonder his father yelled at him.

**"****Only Dad wasn't," said Fred grimly.**

**"****Why not?" said Cris.**

**"****Well, apparently Fudge has been storming round the Ministry checking that nobody's having any contact with Dumbledore," said George.**

**"****Dumbledore's name is mud with the Ministry these days, see," said Fred. "They all think he's just making trouble saying You-Know-Who's back."**

"He is," Cris said.

"And now they know." Fred said.

"And they will be begging you for forgiveness." George said.

"And if I were you, I wouldn't take it." Fred said.

**"****Dad says Fudge has made it clear that anyone who's in league with Dumbledore can clear out their desks," said George.**

"Then how did you stay?" Gwen asked.

"Now that would be telling." Mr. Weasley said with a smile.

**"****Trouble is, Fudge suspects Dad, he knows he's friendly with Dumbledore, and he's always thought Dad's a bit of a weirdo because of his Muggle obsession."**

**"****But what's that got to do with Percy?" asked Cris, confused.**

**"****I'm coming to that. Dad reckons Fudge only wants Percy in his office because he wants to use him to spy on the family - and Dumbledore."**

Fudge blushed, that is what he was hoping for but it didn't work that way since Percy left the family.

**Cris let out a low whistle.**

**"****Bet Percy loved that."**

**Ron laughed in a hollow sort of way.**

**"He went completely berserk. He said - well, he said loads of terrible stuff. He said he's been having to struggle against Dad's lousy reputation ever since he joined the Ministry and that Dad's got no ambition and that's why we've always been - you know - not had a lot of money, I mean -"**

Many glares were sent Percy's way and he looked down in shame.

"I'm so sorry, mum, dad." Percy said. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looked at their third son.

"We'll talk later, let's just get this chapter over with." Mr. Weasley said. Percy nodded and Padfoot continued.

**"****What?" said Cris in disbelief, as Ginny made a noise like an angry cat.**

**"****I know," said Ron in a low voice. "And it got worse. He said Dad was an idiot to run around with Dumbledore, that Dumbledore was heading for big trouble and Dad was going to go down with him, and that he - Percy - knew where his loyalty lay and it was with the Ministry. And if Mum and Dad were going to become traitors to the Ministry he was going to make sure everyone knew he didn't belong to our family any more. And he packed his bags the same night and left. He's living here in London now."**

"You should have stayed with your family; do you know what happens when they separate?" Gwen asked. Percy looked over at the blonde Muggle girl.

"I had an older sister, she was Andy's twin. She did the same as you and left us. She joined the military. She was killed in battle three months after that." Gwen said. Percy went wide eyed, his nieces and nephews told them that he died, he didn't want to put his parents through that, his mum already lost her brothers she didn't need to lose a child as well.

**Cris swore under her breath. She had always liked Percy least of Ron's brothers,**

"Sorry," Percy said. Cris looked over at him, it looked as though Percy was turning back around.

**but she had never imagined he would say such things to Mr. Weasley.**

**"****Mum's been in a right state," said Ron dully. "You know - crying and stuff. She came up to London to try and talk to Percy but he slammed the door in her face. I dunno what he does if he meets Dad at work - ignores him, I s'pose."**

"Yeah, that's about what he does." Mr. Weasley said. Percy looked down in shame he didn't want to do that to them anymore, he hadn't realized he made his mother cry.

**"****But Percy must know Voldemort's back," said Cris slowly. "He's not stupid, he must know your mum and dad wouldn't risk everything without proof."**

Percy blushed, he should have realized, how could he be so stupid.

**"****Yeah, well, your name got dragged into the row," said Ron, shooting Cris a furtive look.**

**"****Percy said the only evidence was your word and… I dunno… he didn't think it was good enough."**

"How about now?" Cris asked.

"I believe you, these books tell the truth and no one deserves to be put under that curse three times." Percy said. Cris looked down; she never wanted to experience that again. Fred and George sensed what she was thinking and kissed her head to comfort her.

**"****Percy takes the Daily Prophet seriously," said Hermione tartly, and the others all nodded.**

**"What are you talking about?" Cris asked, looking around at them all. They were all regarding her warily.**

**"****Haven't - haven't you been getting the Daily Prophet!" Hermione asked nervously.**

**"****Yeah, I have!" said Cris.**

"But you weren't reading the entire thing." Ginny said.

"No, I figured whatever Voldemort was doing would be on the front page." Cris said.

"Do we want to know?" Lily asked.

"Not really," the group said.

**"****Have you - er - been reading it thoroughly?" Hermione asked, still more anxiously.**

**"****Not cover to cover," said Cris defensively. "If they were going to report anything about Voldemort it would be headline news, wouldn't it?"**

**The others flinched at the sound of the name. Hermione hurried on, "Well, you'd need to read it cover to cover to pick it up, but they - um - they mention you a couple of times a week." **

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Lily asked.

"Because they are going to be saying something bad about her." Prongs said.

**"****But I'd have seen -"**

**"****Not if you've only been reading the front page, you wouldn't," said Hermione, shaking her head. "I'm not talking about big articles. They just slip you in, like you're a standing joke."**

"Great now they think she's crazy." Moony said. Lily and Prongs were growling, they were going to go after the people who were doing this to their little girl.

**"****What d'you -?"**

**"****It's quite nasty, actually," said Hermione in a voice of forced calm. "They're just building on Rita's stuff."**

**"****But she's not writing for them anymore, is she?"**

**"****Oh, no, she's kept her promise - not that she's got any choice," Hermione added with satisfaction. "But she laid the foundation for what they're trying to do now." **

"Great, zis es going to be bad, isn't?" Fleur asked.

"Yeah," Ginny said.

**"****Which is what?" said Cris impatiently.**

**"****Okay, you know she wrote that you were collapsing all over the place and saying your scar was hurting and all that?"**

**"****Yeah," said Cris, who was not likely to forget Rita Skeeter's stories about her in a hurry.**

**"****Well, they're writing about you as though you're this deluded, attention-seeking person who thinks she's a great tragic hero or something," said Hermione, very fast, as though it would be less unpleasant for Cris to hear these facts quickly. **

"I was afraid of your reaction." Hermione said.

"I know," Cris said.

**"****They keep slipping in snide comments about you. If some far-fetched story appears, they say something like, 'tale worthy of Cristal Potter', and if anyone has a funny accident or anything it's, 'lets hope he hasn't got a scar on his forehead or we'll be asked to worship him next -"**

"They did not." Lily said.

"They did." Hermione said.

"But she didn't ask for that!" Lily yelled. "She didn't ask to become an orphan, to have a mad man come after her and tried to kill her! I just want her to be a normal teenage girl worrying about boys and stuff like that." Lily cried. Prongs brought her to him as she cried in his shoulder. Fudge blanched at that, they had totally forgotten that she didn't ask for those things to happen to her.

**"****I don't want anyone to worship -" Cris began hotly.**

**"****I know you don't," said Hermione quickly, looking frightened. "I know, Cris. But you see what they're doing? They want to turn you into someone nobody will believe. Fudge is behind it, I'll bet anything. They want wizards on the street to think you're just some stupid girl who's a bit of a joke, who tells ridiculous tall stories because she loves being famous and wants to keep it going." **

"Now that's just ridiculous." Moony said.

"Yeah, if they would just bother to get to know her they would realize that she just wants to be normal." Prongs said.

**"****I didn't ask - I didn't want - Voldemort killed my parents!" Cris spluttered. "I got famous because he murdered my family but couldn't kill me! Who wants to be famous for that? Don't they think I'd rather it'd never -"**

**"****We know, Cris," said Ginny earnestly.**

**"****And of course, they didn't report a word about the Dementors attacking you," said Hermione.**

"Of course not, because they don't people in a panic, it's just going to get worse if they don't warn people." Gwen said.

**"****Someone's told them to keep that quiet. That should've been a really big story, out-of-control Dementors. They haven't even reported that you broke the International Statute of Secrecy. We thought they would, it would tie in so well with this image of you as some stupid show-off. We think they're biding their time until you're expelled, then they're really going to go to town - I mean, if you're expelled, obviously," she went on hastily. "You really shouldn't be, not if they abide by their own laws, there's no case against you."**

"They should, she was defending herself. What if she didn't and her soul was taken, how would you have reacted then?" Gwen asked. Fudge sputtered, he would have been kicked out of office for sure.

**They were back on the hearing and Cris did not want to think about that. She cast around for another change of subject, but was saved the necessity of finding one by the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs.**

**Fred gave the Extendable Ear a hearty tug; there was another loud crack and he and George vanished. Seconds later, Mrs. Weasley appeared in the bedroom doorway.**

"The joys of an easy get away, away from Hogwarts that is." Sirius said.

**"****The meeting's over, you can come down and have dinner now. Everyone's dying to see you, Cris. And who's left all those Dungbombs outside the kitchen door?"**

**"****Crookshanks," said Ginny unblushingly. "He loves playing with them."**

"I can't believe I believed her." Mrs. Weasley said.

"She is a lot like the twins dear." Mr. Weasley said.

**"Oh," said Mrs. Weasley, "I thought it might have been Kreacher, he keeps doing odd things like that.**

"He's still alive?" Padfoot asked astounded.

"Yeah, sadly, he's gone insane I think." Sirius said.

"Not surprising." Padfoot said before continuing.

**Now don't forget to keep your voices down in the hall. Ginny, your hands are filthy, what have you been doing? Go and wash them before dinner, please."**

"I should have realized then." Mrs. Weasley said shaking her head.

**Ginny grimaced at the others and followed her mother out of the room, leaving Cris alone with Ron and Hermione. **

**Both of them were watching her apprehensively, as though they feared she would start shouting again now that everyone else had gone. The sight of them looking so nervous made her feel slightly ashamed.**

**"****Look…" she muttered, but Ron shook his head, and Hermione said quietly, "We knew you'd be angry, Cris, we really don't blame you, but you've got to understand, we did try to persuade Dumbledore -"**

**"****Yeah, I know," said Cris shortly.**

**She cast around for a topic that didn't involve her headmaster, because the very thought of Dumbledore made Cris' insides burn with anger again.**

**"****Who's Kreacher?" she asked.**

**"****The house-elf who lives here," said Ron. "Nutter. Never met one like him."**

**Hermione frowned at Ron.**

**"****He's not a nutter, Ron."**

**"****His life's ambition is to have his head cut off and stuck up on a plaque just like his mother," said Ron irritably. "Is that normal, Hermione?"**

"No, that isn't normal." Lily said.

**"****Well - well, if he is a bit strange, it's not his fault."**

**Ron rolled his eyes at Cris.**

**"****Hermione still hasn't given up on SPEW -"**

"Of course she hasn't." Prongs said shaking his head.

**"****It's not SPEW!" said Hermione heatedly. "It's the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. And it's not just me, Dumbledore says we should be kind to Kreacher too."**

**"****Yeah, yeah," said Ron. "C'mon, I'm starving."**

"Ron and his stomach again." Ginny said.

**He led the way out of the door and on to the landing, but before they could descend the stairs -**

**"****Hold it!" Ron breathed, flinging out an arm to stop Cris and Hermione walking any further.**

**"****They're still in the hall, we might be able to hear something."**

"Nosy kids." Remus said with a chuckle.

"Like we weren't the same." Robin said.

"I know." Remus said smiling at his sister.

**The three of them looked cautiously over the banisters. The gloomy hallway below was packed with witches and wizards, including all of Cris' guard. They were whispering excitedly together. In the very center of the group Cris saw the dark, greasy-haired head and prominent nose of his least favorite teacher at Hogwarts, Professor Snape. Cris leaned further over the banisters. She was very interested in what Snape was doing for the Order of the Phoenix…**

"Of course you would be." Moony said.

"Wouldn't you?" Prongs asked.

"Well yeah," Moony said with a blush.

**A thin piece of flesh-colored string descended in front of Cris' eyes. Looking up, she saw Fred and George on the landing above, cautiously lowering the Extendable Ear towards the dark knot of people below. A moment later, however, they all began to move towards the front door and out of sight.**

**"****Damnit," Cris heard Fred whisper, as he hoisted the Extendable Ear back up again.**

**They heard the front door open, then close.**

**"****Snape never eats here," Ron told Cris quietly. "Thank God. C'mon."**

**"****And don't forget to keep your voice down in the hall, Cris," Hermione whispered. **

"What's in the hall?" Gwen asked.

"Please tell me my mother didn't have a portrait done." Padfoot said almost begging. When nobody answered he groaned and continued reading.

**As they passed the row of house-elf heads on the wall, they saw Remus, Mrs. Weasley and Tonks at the front door, magically sealing its many locks and bolts behind those who had just left.**

**"We're eating down in the kitchen," Mrs. Weasley whispered, meeting them at the bottom of the stairs. "Cris, dear, if you'll just tiptoe across the hall, it's through this door here -"**

**CRASH.**

"Tonks!" the group said. Tonks blushed brightly at that.

**"Tonks!" cried Mrs. Weasley in exasperation, turning to look behind her.**

**"I'm sorry!" wailed Tonks, who was lying flat on the floor. "It's that stupid umbrella stand, that's the second time I've tripped over -"**

"Maybe we should get rid of it." Sirius said.

"Or place it somewhere else." Robin said.

"That's a good idea, we can put it in the drawing room." Mrs. Weasley said.

**But the rest of her words were drowned by a horrible, ear-splitting, blood-curdling screech. The moth-eaten velvet curtains Cris had passed earlier had flown apart, but there was no door behind them. For a split second, Cris thought she was looking through a window, a window behind which an old woman in a black cap was screaming and screaming as though she were being tortured - then she realized it was simply a life-size portrait, but the most realistic, and the most unpleasant woman, she had ever seen in her life.**

"Great, that'll be my mother." Padfoot said.

"I am so sorry." Gwen said. Padfoot just grinned at her as he continued reading.

**The old woman was drooling, her eyes were rolling, the yellowing skin of her face stretched taut as she screamed; and all along the hall behind them, the other portraits awoke and began to yell, too, so that Cris actually screwed up her eyes at the noise and clapped her hands over her ears. Remus and Mrs. Weasley darted forward and tried to tug the curtains shut over the old woman, but they would not close and she screeched louder than ever, brandishing clawed hands as though trying to tear at their faces.**

**"Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, be gone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers -"**

"I'm so sorry," Fleur said.

"I've dealt with her in life, this way I can shut her up at least." Sirius said.

**Tonks apologized over and over again, dragging the huge, heavy troll's leg back off the floor; Mrs. Weasley abandoned the attempt to close the curtains and hurried up and down the hall, stunning all the other portraits with her wand; and a man with long black hair came charging out of a door facing Cris.**

"Really, a man with long black hair, that's my introduction?" Sirius asked.

"I didn't write this." Cris said.

"I know," Sirius said with a smile.

**"Shut up, you horrible old hag, shut UP!" he roared, seizing the curtain Mrs. Weasley had abandoned.**

"I've always wanted to say that about her." Padfoot said with a grin.

"You already do." Prongs said.

"I know, but not to her face." Padfoot said. The group shook their heads and he continued reading.

**The old woman's face blanched.**

**"Yoooou!" she howled, her eyes popping at the sight of the man. "Blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh!"**

**"I said - shut - UP!" roared the man, and with a stupendous effort he and Remus managed to force the curtains closed again.**

**The old woman's screeches died and an echoing silence fell. Panting slightly and sweeping his long dark hair out of his eyes, Cris' godfather Sirius turned to face her.**

**"Hello, Cris," he said grimly, "I see you've met my mother."**

"What a nice intro Sirius." Prongs said with a laugh. Sirius smiled sadly at his long dead best friend.

"Well that's the chapter." Padfoot said handing it to Percy.


	6. Chapter 5: The Order of the Phoenix

"**Chapter 5: The Order of the Phoenix," **Percy read.

"Well it's also the title of the book." Gwen said.

"I wonder if they tell Cris anything." Lily said.

"Since Sirius is there he'll probably tell her something." Prongs said.

"I hope so." Lily said.

**"****Your -?"**

**"My dear old mum, yeah," said Sirius. "We've been trying to get her down for a month but we think she put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of the canvas. Let's get downstairs, quick, before they all wake up again."**

"Do you get her down?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, it's not there anymore, I don't know how mum and dad got it down but they did." Keiran said.

"Well that's something." Sirius said.

**"****But what's a portrait of your mother doing here?" Cris asked, bewildered, as they went through the door from the hall and led the way down a flight of narrow stone steps, the others just behind them.**

**"****Hasn't anyone told you? This was my parents' house," said Sirius. "But I'm the last Black left, so it's mine now. I offered it to Dumbledore for Headquarters - about the only useful thing I've been able to do."**

**Cris, who had expected a better welcome, noted how hard and bitter Sirius' voice sounded. **

"Sorry, it's always like that when I talk about my parents." Sirius said.

"Don't worry, it's fine." Cris said with a smile.

**She followed her godfather to the bottom of the steps and through a door leading into the basement kitchen.**

**It was scarcely less gloomy than the hall above, a cavernous room with rough stone walls. Most of the light was coming from a large fire at the far end of the room. A haze of pipe smoke hung in the air like battle fumes, through which loomed the menacing shapes of heavy iron pots and pans hanging from the dark ceiling. Many chairs had been crammed into the room for the meeting and a long wooden table stood in the middle of them, littered with rolls of parchment, goblets, empty wine bottles, and a heap of what appeared to be rags. Mr. Weasley and his eldest son Bill were talking quietly with their heads together at the end of the table. **

"What were the two of you talking about?" Gwen asked.

"About the meeting." Bill said. Gwen looked at him but didn't ask anything else.

**Mrs. Weasley cleared her throat. Her husband, a thin, balding, red-haired man who wore horn-rimmed glasses, looked around and jumped to his feet.**

**"****Cris!" Mr. Weasley said, hurrying forward to greet her, and shaking his hand vigorously.**

**"****Good to see you!"**

**Over his shoulder Cris saw Bill, who still wore his long hair in a ponytail,**

"I do wish you'd let me cut it." Mrs. Weasley said. This caused the future kids to laugh.

"You say that all the time." Keiran said.

"But Dad will never, he says that mum likes it long." Victoire said. Mrs. Weasley sighed; it seems Bill will always have it long.

**hastily rolling up the lengths of parchment left on the table.**

**"****Journey all right, Cris?" Bill called, trying to gather up twelve scrolls at once. "Mad-Eye didn't make you come via Greenland, then?"**

"He tried," Prongs laughed.

**"****He tried," said Tonks, striding over to help Bill and immediately toppling a candle on to the last piece of parchment. "Oh no - sorry -"**

**"****Here, dear," said Mrs. Weasley, sounding exasperated, and she repaired the parchment with a wave of her wand. In the flash of light caused by Mrs. Weasley's charm Cris caught a glimpse of what looked like the plan of a building.**

"Of course she did." Mrs. Weasley muttered.

**Mrs. Weasley had seen her looking. She snatched the plan off the table and stuffed it into Bill's already overladen arms.**

**"****This sort of thing ought to be cleared away promptly at the end of meetings," she snapped, before sweeping off towards an ancient dresser from which she started unloading dinner plates.**

**Bill took out his wand, muttered, "Evanesco!" and the scrolls vanished.**

"Cool, can you get it back?" Gwen asked.

"Yep," Charlie said.

**"****Sit down, Cris," said Sirius. "You've met Mundungus, haven't you?"**

**The thing Cris had taken to be a pile of rags gave a prolonged, grunting snore, then jerked awake.**

**'Some'n say m'name?' Mundungus mumbled sleepily. "I 'gree with Sirius…" He raised a very grubby hand in the air as though voting, his droopy, bloodshot eyes unfocused.**

"What did you do to him?" Moony asked.

"You don't want to know." Sirius said.

"It was funny though." Robin said.

**Ginny giggled.**

**"****The meeting's over, Dung," said Sirius, as they all sat down around him at the table. "Cris' arrived."**

**"****Eh?" said Mundungus, peering balefully at Cris through his matted ginger hair. "Blimey, so she 'as. Yeah… you all right, Cris?"**

"Why would he care, he left." Lily snapped.

**"****Yeah," said Cris.**

**Mundungus fumbled nervously in his pockets, still staring at Cris, and pulled out a grimy black pipe. He stuck it in his mouth, ignited the end of it with his wand and took a deep pull on it. Great billowing clouds of greenish smoke obscured him within seconds.**

"And he smokes at that." Lily said.

"Smoking is very bad for you." Gwen said.

**"****Owe you a 'pology," grunted a voice from the middle of the smelly cloud.**

**"****For the last time, Mundungus," called Mrs. Weasley, "will you please not smoke that thing in the kitchen, especially not when we're about to eat!"**

**"****Ah," said Mundungus. "Right. Sorry, Molly."**

**The cloud of smoke vanished as Mundungus stowed his pipe back in his pocket, but an acrid smell of burning socks lingered.**

"Now that's just nasty." Gwen said.

"I know," said the group.

**"And if you want dinner before midnight I'll need a hand," Mrs. Weasley said to the room at large. "No, you can stay where you are, Cris dear, you've had a long journey."**

**"****What can I do, Molly?" said Tonks enthusiastically, bounding forwards.**

**Mrs. Weasley hesitated, looking apprehensive.**

**"****Er - no, it's all right, Tonks, you have a rest too, you've done enough today."**

"You just didn't want her around sharp objects." Remus said. Mrs. Weasley looked sheepish and Tonks laughed.

"It's alright Molly, I understand, I wouldn't want me around sharp objects as well." Tonks said.

**"****No, no, I want to help!" said Tonks brightly, knocking over a chair as she hurried towards the dresser, from which Ginny was collecting cutlery.**

**Soon, a series of heavy knives were chopping meat and vegetables of their own accord, supervised by Mr. Weasley, while Mrs. Weasley stirred a cauldron dangling over the fire and the others took out plates, more goblets and food from the pantry. Cris was left at the table with Sirius and Mundungus, who was still blinking at her mournfully.**

**"****Seen old Figgy since?" he asked.**

**"****No," said Cris, "I haven't seen anyone."**

**"****See, I wouldn't 'ave left," said Mundungus, leaning forward, a pleading note in his voice, "but I 'ad a business opportunity -"**

"And leaving Cris is a good idea?" Lily asked.

"We know Lily, we know." Moony said.

**Cris felt something brush against her knees and started, but it was only Crookshanks, Hermione's bandy-legged ginger cat, who wound himself once around Cris' legs, purring, then jumped on to Sirius's lap and curled up. Sirius scratched him absent-mindedly behind the ears as he turned, still grim-faced, to Cris.**

"So you finally know a cat who likes you." Prongs said.

"Well, he did help me out." Sirius said.

**"****Had a good summer so far?"**

**"****It was alright, I have a friend in the neighborhood and we went out a few times. But other than that it wasn't all that fun," said Cris.**

**For the first time, something like a grin flitted across Sirius's face.**

**"Don't know what you're complaining about, myself." **

"Of course, you would be stuck in the house." Lily said.

"And after I literally ran away from the place too." Padfoot said pouting.

**"****What?" said Cris incredulously.**

**"****Personally, I'd have welcomed a Dementor attack.**

"Of course you would." Robin said shaking her head.

**A deadly struggle for my soul would have broken the monotony nicely. You think you've had it bad, at least you've been able to get out and about, stretch your legs, get into a few fights… I've been stuck inside for a month."**

**"****How come?" asked Cris, frowning.**

**"****Because the Ministry of Magic's still after me,**

"How did you forget that?" Robin asked.

"I honestly don't know, probably because I haven't read anything about it." Cris said.

**and Voldemort will know all about me being an Animagus by now, Wormtail will have told him, so my big disguise is useless. There's not much I can do for the Order of the Phoenix… or so Dumbledore feels."**

**There was something about the slightly flattened tone of voice in which Sirius uttered Dumbledore's name that told Cris that Sirius, too, was not very happy with the Headmaster.**

"Keeping people locked up is not a very smart thing to do." Scarlett said. No wonder her dad didn't like to stay inside all the time.

**Cris felt a sudden upsurge of affection for her godfather.**

**"****At least you've known what's been going on," she said bracingly.**

**"****Oh yeah," said Sirius sarcastically. "Listening to Snape's reports, having to take all his snide hints that he's out there risking his life while I'm sitting on my backside here having a nice comfortable time… asking me how the cleanings going -"**

"Yeah, it probably isn't very clean in there." Padfoot said.

"No it wasn't." Hermione said.

**"****What cleaning?" asked Cris.**

**"****Trying to make this place fit for human habitation," said Sirius, waving a hand around the dismal kitchen. "No one's lived here for ten years, not since my dear mother died, unless you count her old house-elf, and he's gone round the twist - hasn't cleaned anything in ages."**

**"****Sirius," said Mundungus, who did not appear to have paid any attention to the conversation, but had been closely examining an empty goblet. "This solid silver, mate?"**

**"****Yes," said Sirius, surveying it with distaste. "Finest fifteenth-century goblin-wrought silver, embossed with the Black family crest."**

**"****That'd come off, though," muttered Mundungus, polishing it with his cuff.**

"He can have it." Padfoot said.

**"****Fred - George - NO, JUST CARRY THEM!" Mrs. Weasley shrieked.**

Sirius and Remus laughed, James and Sirius did that almost every day after they turned seventeen.

**Cris, Sirius and Mundungus looked round and, a split second later, they had dived away from the table. Fred and George had bewitched a large cauldron of stew, an iron flagon of Butterbeer and a heavy wooden breadboard, complete with knife, to hurtle through the air towards them. The stew skidded the length of the table and came to a halt just before the end, leaving a long black burn on the wooden surface; the flagon of Butterbeer fell with a crash, spilling its contents everywhere; the bread knife slipped off the board and landed, point down and quivering ominously, exactly where Sirius's right hand had been seconds before.**

"Thank god for that." Sirius said.

"Sorry," Fred and George said. Sirius waved it off as Percy continued reading.

**"****FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!" screamed Mrs. Weasley. **

**"****THERE WAS NO NEED - I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS - JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ALLOWED TO USE MAGIC NOW, YOU DON'T HAVE TO WHIP YOUR WANDS OUT FOR EVERY TINY LITTLE THING!"**

Fred and George looked down; they did go a little overboard.

"Mum, everyone does it definitely after they become of age." Charlie said.

**"****We were just trying to save a bit of time!" said Fred, hurrying forward to wrench the bread knife out of the table. "Sorry, Sirius, mate - didn't mean to -"**

**Cris and Sirius were both laughing; Mundungus, who had toppled backwards off his chair, was swearing as he got to his feet; Crookshanks had given an angry hiss and shot off under the dresser, from where his large yellow eyes glowed in the darkness.**

**"****Boys," Mr. Weasley said, lifting the stew back into the middle of the table, "your mother's right, you're supposed to show a sense of responsibility now you've come of age -"**

**"****None of your brothers caused this sort of trouble!" Mrs. Weasley raged at the twins as she slammed a fresh flagon of Butterbeer on to the table, and spilling almost as much again. "Bill didn't feel the need to Apparate every few feet!**

"Well I did at first, just never when you were around." Bill said. Mrs. Weasley looked at her oldest son in shock.

**Charlie didn't charm everything he met! Percy -"**

**She stopped dead, catching her breath with a frightened look at her husband, whose expression was suddenly wooden.**

Everyone turned to glare at Percy who looked down into his lap.

**"****Let's eat," said Bill quickly.**

**"****It looks wonderful, Molly," said Remus, ladling stew on to a plate for her and handing it across the table.**

**For a few minutes there was silence but for the chink of plates and cutlery and the scraping of chairs as everyone settled down to their food. Then Mrs. Weasley turned to Sirius.**

**"****I've been meaning to tell you, Sirius, there's something trapped in that writing desk in the drawing room, it keeps rattling and shaking. Of course, it could just be a Boggart, but I thought we ought to ask Alastor to have a look at it before we let it out."**

**"****Whatever you like," said Sirius indifferently.**

**"The curtains in there are full of Doxys, too," Mrs. Weasley went on. "I thought we might try and tackle them tomorrow." **

"How many creatures made their homes there?" Padfoot asked.

"Enough," Sirius said.

**"****I look forward to it," said Sirius. Cris heard the sarcasm in his voice, but she was not sure that anyone else did.**

**Opposite Cris, Tonks was entertaining Hermione and Ginny by transforming her nose between mouthfuls. Screwing up her eyes each time with the same pained expression she had worn back in Cris' bedroom, her nose swelled to a beak-like protuberance that resembled Snape's, shrank to the size of a button mushroom and then sprouted a great deal of hair from each nostril.**

**Apparently this was a regular mealtime entertainment, because Hermione and Ginny were soon requesting their favorite noses.**

**"****Do that one like a pig snout, Tonks."**

**Tonks obliged, and Cris, looking up, had the fleeting impression that a female Dudley was grinning at her from across the table.**

"Sorry," Cris said.

"It's okay, although, I don't think I'll be able to do that nose anymore." Tonks said.

"Thanks Cris," Hermione and Ginny said.

"You're welcome." Cris said with a smile.

**Mr. Weasley, Bill and Remus were having an intense discussion about goblins.**

**"****They're not giving anything away yet," said Bill. "I still can't work out whether or not they believe he's back. Course, they might prefer not to take sides at all. Keep out of it."**

**"****I'm sure they'd never go over to You-Know-Who," said Mr. Weasley, shaking his head.**

"One can never tell with Goblins." Robin said.

"That's true." Bill said.

**"****They've suffered losses too; remember that goblin family he murdered last time, somewhere near Nottingham?"**

**"****I think it depends what they're offered," said Remus. "And I'm not talking about gold. If they're offered the freedoms we've been denying them for centuries they're going to be tempted. **

"They don't join do they?" Hermione asked.

"I don't think so." Keiran said shaking his head.

**Have you still not had any luck with Ragnok, Bill?"**

**"****He's feeling pretty anti-wizard at the moment," said Bill, "he hasn't stopped raging about the Bagman business, he reckons the Ministry did a cover-up, those goblins never got their gold from him, you know -" **

"That's the thing; Goblins are not likely to forget about things like that." Bill said.

**A gale of laughter from the middle of the table drowned the rest of Bill's words. Fred, George, Ron and Mundungus were rolling around in their seats.**

**"… ****and then," choked Mundungus, tears running down his face, "and then, if you'll believe it, 'e says to me, 'e says, 'Ere, Dung, where did ya get all them toads from? 'Cos some son of a Bludger's gone and nicked all mine!' And I says, 'Nicked all your toads, Will, what next? So you'll be wanting some more, then?' And if you'll believe me, lads, the gormless gargoyle buys all 'is own toads back orf me for a lot more'n what 'e paid in the first place -"**

**"****I don't think we need to hear any more of your business dealings, thank you very much, Mundungus," said Mrs. Weasley sharply, as Ron slumped forwards on to the table, howling with laughter.**

**"****Beg pardon, Molly," said Mundungus at once, wiping his eyes and winking at Cris. "But, you know, Will nicked 'em orf Warty Harris in the first place so I wasn't really doing nothing wrong."**

**"****I don't know where you learned about right and wrong, Mundungus, but you seem to have missed a few crucial lessons," said Mrs. Weasley coldly. **

"Wow, I didn't know mum could be sarcastic." Charlie said.

"Well, her brothers inspired us with our pranks." Padfoot said.

"That's where we get it from." The twins said.

"Man, you three stood no chance. Grandchildren to one of the marauders not to mention children of Fred and George and Great uncles Fabien and Gideon." Victoire said.

"Hey, you got into trouble too." Lily J said.

"Not as bad as us though." Al said.

**Fred and George buried their faces in their goblets of Butterbeer; George was hiccoughing. For some reason, Mrs. Weasley threw a very nasty look at Sirius before getting to her feet and going to fetch a large rhubarb crumble for pudding. Cris looked round at her godfather.**

**"****Molly doesn't approve of Mundungus," said Sirius in an undertone. "So what happened to your glasses?" Cris grinned at him.**

"**I got contacts, very recently. This way I don't have to worry about the frames breaking." Cris said. **

"**What are contacts?" Mr. Weasley asked. Cris smiled reached into her back pocket and pulled out a small bottle of eye solution and made an eye wide open and pulled out a small contact. Many people around the table looked shocked. **

"**And those are just like glasses?" Sirius asked. Cris nodded put the contact back in. **

"**And when did you have time to go and do that?" Mrs. Weasley asked. Cris looked over at her and smiled. **

"**I went with a friend in the neighborhood." Cris said with a shrug and left it at that. **

"I was worried you would get taken or killed." Mrs. Weasley said.

"No need to worry about me." Cris said.

**"So ****how come he's in the Order?" Cris said, very quietly pointing at Mundungus. **

**"****He's useful," Sirius muttered. "Knows all the crooks - well, he would, seeing as he's one himself. But he's also very loyal to Dumbledore, who helped him out of a tight spot once. It pays to have someone like Dung around, he hears things we don't. But Molly thinks inviting him to stay for dinner is going too far. She hasn't forgiven him for slipping off duty when he was supposed to be tailing you."**

"None of us really forgave him." Remus said.

"I can imagine." Lily said.

**Three helpings of rhubarb crumble and custard later and the waistband on Cris' jeans were feeling uncomfortably tight.**

"Which is saying something; we bought them about a size too big. We really couldn't find the right size for her." Gwen said.

"I'm stuck between sizes, it makes shopping for clothes rather difficult." Cris said.

"I can understand that." Lily said.

**As she laid down her spoon there was a lull in the general conversation: Mr. Weasley was leaning back in his chair, looking replete and relaxed; Tonks was yawning widely, her nose now back to normal; and Ginny who had lured Crookshanks out from under the dresser, was sitting cross-legged on the floor, rolling Butterbeer corks for him to chase.**

**"****Nearly time for bed, I think," said Mrs. Weasley with a yawn.**

**"****Not just yet, Molly" said Sirius, pushing away his empty plate and turning to look at Cris.**

**"****You know, I'm surprised at you. I thought the first thing you'd do when you got here would be to start asking questions about Voldemort."**

"I did," Cris said.

"I know now." Sirius said with a smile.

**The atmosphere in the room changed with the rapidity Cris associated with the arrival of Dementors. Where seconds before it had been sleepily relaxed, it was now alert, even tense. A frisson had gone around the table at the mention of Voldemort's name. Remus, who had been about to take a sip of wine, lowered his goblet slowly, looking wary.**

**"I did!" said Cris indignantly. "I asked Ron and Hermione but they said we're not allowed in the Order, so -"**

**"****And they're quite right," said Mrs. Weasley. "You're too young."**

"That doesn't mean she can't know. He is after her. So the more she knows the better she is protected. Keeping her in the dark is a sure fire way for her to get killed." Moony said. Mrs. Weasley looked at him, she had completely forgot about that, she just wanted to keep Cris and her children safe.

**She was sitting bolt upright in her chair, her fists clenched on its arms, every trace of drowsiness gone.**

**"****Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?" asked Sirius. "Cris' been trapped in that Muggle house for a month. She' got the right to know what's been happen—"**

**"****Hang on!" interrupted George loudly.**

**"****How come Cris gets her questions answered?" said Fred angrily.**

**"****We've been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven't told us a single stinking thing!" said George.**

**"'****You're too young, you're not in the Order'," said Fred in a high-pitched voice that sounded uncannily like his mother's. "Cris' not even of age!" **

"Still doesn't mean she can't know what's going on." Lily said.

"All of them need to know what's going on so they can defend themselves. I mean, what if Hogwarts is attacked. You aren't always going to be there to protect them." Prongs said.

**"It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing," said Sirius calmly, "that's your parents' decision. Cris, on the other hand -"**

"It's my decision to make." Sirius said.

"We did make him godfather for a reason." Prongs said.

**"It's not down to you to decide what's good for Cris!" said Mrs. Weasley sharply. The expression on her normally kind face looked dangerous. "You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?"**

**"Which bit?" Sirius asked politely, but with the air of a man readying himself for a fight.**

"Dad, you should know better than to start a yelling match with Grandma Molly." Scarlett said.

"Scar, you should know how dad can get. Especially when it comes to us, Teddy and Cris and her kids." Keiran said.

"True," Scarlett said.

**"The bit about not telling Cris more than she needs to know," said Mrs. Weasley, placing a heavy emphasis on the last three words. Ron, Hermione, Fred and George's heads swiveled from Sirius to Mrs. Weasley as though they were following a tennis rally. Ginny was kneeling amid a pile of abandoned Butterbeer corks, watching the conversation with her mouth slightly open. Remus' eyes were fixed on Sirius.**

**"I don't intend to tell her more than she needs to know, Molly," said Sirius. "But as she was the one who saw Voldemort come back" (again, there was a collective shudder around the table at the name) "she has more right than most to -" **

"Exactly, if it hadn't been for her none of you would be there." Prongs said.

**"She's not a member of the Order of the Phoenix!" said Mrs. Weasley. "She's only fifteen and -"**

**"And she's dealt with as much as most in the Order," said Sirius, "and more than some." **

"That's true; I wish you had an actual childhood." Sirius said.

"And we are going to make sure of that." Lily said.

"Good," Remus said.

**"No one's denying what she's done!" said Mrs. Weasley, her voice rising, her fists trembling on the arms of her chair. "But she's still -"**

**"She's not a child!" said Sirius impatiently.**

**"She's not an adult either!" said Mrs. Weasley, the color rising in her cheeks. "She's not James or Lily, Sirius!"**

Sirius flinched at that and Mrs. Weasley looked down in shame.

"Now that was a low blow Molly, a very low blow." Lily said.

"I am so sorry, Sirius, I know you don't see her like that." Mrs. Weasley said. Sirius looked at her and nodded stiffly, there were times where Cris would do something that would remind her of James and Lily that it made his heart ache for her. It wasn't fair, he knew them for years and Cris, their only child hardly knows them.

**"I'm perfectly clear who she is, thanks, Molly," said Sirius coldly.**

**"I'm not sure you are!" said Mrs. Weasley. "Sometimes, the way you talk about her, it's as though you think you've got your best friend back!"**

"Molly, I know Cris is her own person, the only thing that gets me sometimes is some of things she does reminds me a lot of James and Lily." Sirius said. Mrs. Weasley nodded and she understood what that was like.

**"What's wrong with that?" said Cris.**

**"What's wrong, Cris, is that you are not your father or your mother, however much you might look like him!" said Mrs. Weasley, her eyes still boring into Sirius. "You are still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!"**

**"Meaning I'm an irresponsible godfather?" demanded Sirius, his voice rising.**

"You're not; you just have had a lot of bad luck." Bill said.

"Thanks," Sirius said.

**"Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and -"**

**"We'll leave my instructions from Dumbledore out of this, if you please!" said Sirius loudly.**

**"Arthur!" said Mrs. Weasley, rounding on her husband. "Arthur, back me up!"**

"Sure bring other people into the argument." Lily mumbled.

**Mr. Weasley did not speak at once. He took off his glasses and cleaned them slowly on his robes, not looking at his wife. Only when he had replaced them carefully on his nose did he reply.**

**"Dumbledore knows the position has changed, Molly. He accepts that Cris will have to be filled in, to a certain extent, now that she is staying at Headquarters."**

**"Yes, but there's a difference between that and inviting her to ask whatever she likes!"**

**"Personally," said Remus quietly, looking away from Sirius at last, as Mrs. Weasley turned quickly to him, hopeful that finally she was about to get an ally, "I think it better that Cris gets the facts - not all the facts, Molly, but the general picture - from us, rather than a garbled version from… others."**

"See, something like that, I'd rather her know something than not know anything at all. You know how that worked out well." Prongs said.

**His expression was mild, but Cris felt sure Remus, at least, knew that some Extendable Ears had survived Mrs. Weasley's purge.**

"That I did." Remus said with a chuckle.

**"Well," said Mrs. Weasley, breathing deeply and looking around the table for support that did not come, "well… I can see I'm going to be overruled. I'll just say this: Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Cris to know too much, and speaking as someone who has Cris best interests at heart -"**

**"She's not your daughter," said Sirius quietly.**

**"She's as good as," said Mrs. Weasley fiercely. "Who else has she got?"**

"A lot of people." Padfoot said.

**"She's got me!"**

**"Yes," said Mrs. Weasley, her lip curling, "the thing is, it's been rather difficult for you to look after her while you've been locked up in Azkaban, hasn't it?"**

"Molly! That's really below the belt." Lily said.

"I know, I am so sorry Sirius. I was stressed especially with everything Percy said and all that." Mrs. Weasley said. Percy looked up at his mother, he didn't think he caused her that much pain.

**Sirius started to rise from his chair.**

**"Molly, you're not the only person at this table who cares about Cris," said Remus sharply. "Sirius, sit down."**

**Mrs. Weasley's lower lip was trembling. Sirius sank slowly back into his chair, his face white.**

**"I think Cris ought to be allowed a say in this," Remus continued, "she's old enough to decide for herself."**

**"I want to know what's been going on," Cris said at once.**

"He knew you were going to say that." Robin said.

"That I did, she doesn't like to be kept in the dark." Remus said.

**She did not look at Mrs. Weasley. She had been touched by what she had said about her being as good as a daughter, but she was also impatient with her mollycoddling. Sirius was right, she was not a child.**

"I haven't been one in a long time." Cris mumbled.

"We know Bambi, we know." The twins whispered.

**"Very well," said Mrs. Weasley, her voice cracking. "Ginny - Ron - Hermione - Fred - George – I want you out of this kitchen, now."**

"You can't really stop Fred and George they are of age, and Cris will tell Ron and Hermione anything." Neville said.

"Yeah, that's about it." Charlie said.

**There was instant uproar.**

"See," Neville said with a smile. Ginny elbowed him in the stomach.

**"We're of age!" Fred and George bellowed together.**

**"If Cris' allowed, why can't I?" shouted Ron.**

**"Mum, I want to hear!" wailed Ginny.**

**"NO!" shouted Mrs. Weasley, standing up, her eyes over bright. "I absolutely forbid -"**

"Well you can't really stop the twins, they are of age." Bill said.

**"Molly, you can't stop Fred and George," said Mr. Weasley wearily. "They are of age."**

**"They're still at school." **

"Doesn't mean anything, they are of age." Padfoot said enviously.

**"But they're legally adults now," said Mr. Weasley, in the same tired voice.**

**Mrs. Weasley was now scarlet in the face.**

**"I - oh, all right then, Fred and George can stay, but Ron -"**

**"Cris'll tell me and Hermione everything you say anyway!" said Ron hotly. "Won't - won't you?" he added uncertainly, meeting Cris' eyes.**

**For a split second, Cris considered telling Ron that she wouldn't tell him a single word, that he could try a taste of being kept in the dark and see how he liked it. But the nasty impulse vanished as they looked at each other.**

"Sorry," Cris said.

"It's fine Bolt, we know how you felt." Hermione and Ron said.

**"Course I will," Cris said.**

"See, they tell each other anything." Lily said.

**Ron and Hermione beamed.**

**"Fine!" shouted Mrs. Weasley. "Fine! Ginny - BED!"**

**Ginny did not go quietly. They could hear her raging and storming at her mother all the way up the stairs, and when she reached the hall Mrs. Blacks ear-splitting shrieks were added to the din.**

"I have a feeling Ginny will know as well." Padfoot whispered.

"Me too." Prongs said.

**Remus hurried off to the portrait to restore calm. It was only after he had returned, closing the kitchen door behind him and taking his seat at the table again, that Sirius spoke.**

**"Okay, Cris… what do you want to know?"**

**Cris took a deep breath and asked the question that had obsessed her for the last month.**

**"Where's Voldemort?" she said, ignoring the renewed shudders and winces at the name. "What's he doing? I've been trying to watch the Muggle news, and there hasn't been anything that looks like him yet, no funny deaths or anything."**

**"That's because there haven't been any funny deaths yet," said Sirius, "not as far as we know, anyway… and we know quite a lot."**

"He doesn't want the world to know yet." Charlie said.

"A surprise attack," Gwen said.

"He'll go after the Ministry first." Ron said. Hermione and Cris looked at each other and Hermione wrote that down on the list she had of predictions Ron had made.

**"More than he thinks we do, anyway," said Remus.**

**"How come he's stopped killing people?" Cris asked. She knew Voldemort had murdered more than once in the last year alone.**

**"Because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself," said Sirius. "It would be dangerous for him. His comeback didn't come off quite the way he wanted it to, you see. He messed it up."**

**"Or rather, you messed it up for him," said Remus, with a satisfied smile.**

"She wasn't supposed to escape and tell Dumbledore." Padfoot said.

**"How?" Cris asked, perplexed.**

**"You weren't supposed to survive!" said Sirius. "Nobody apart from his Death Eaters was supposed to know he'd come back. But you survived to bear witness."**

**"And the very last person he wanted alerted to his return the moment he got back was Dumbledore," said Remus. "And you made sure Dumbledore knew at once."**

"That was smart." Charlie said. Cris smiled and blushed, she was only following her gut.

**"How has that helped?" Cris asked.**

**"Are you kidding?" said Bill incredulously. "Dumbledore was the only one You-Know-Who was ever scared of!"**

"I think he is beginning to be scared of you. You fought off his Imperious after all." Draco said.

**"Thanks to you, Dumbledore was able to recall the Order of the Phoenix about an hour after Voldemort returned," said Sirius.**

**"So, what's the Order been doing?" said Cris, looking around at them all.**

**"Working as hard as we can to make sure Voldemort can't carry out his plans," said Sirius.**

"Well that's good." Prongs said.

**"How d'you know what his plans are?" Cris asked quickly.**

**"Dumbledore's got a shrewd idea,' said Remus, "and Dumbledore's shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate."**

"Well, his ideas are usually right." Robin said.

**"So what does Dumbledore reckon he's planning?"**

**"Well, firstly, he wants to build up his army again," said Sirius. "In the old days he had huge numbers at his command: witches and wizards he'd bullied or bewitched into following him, his faithful Death Eaters, a great variety of Dark creatures. You heard him planning to recruit the giants; well, they'll be just one of the groups he's after. He's certainly not going to try and take on the Ministry of Magic with only a dozen Death Eaters."**

"Yeah, that'll be stupid." Gwen said.

**"So you're trying to stop him getting more followers?"**

**"We're doing our best," said Remus.**

**"How?"**

**"Well, the main thing is to try and convince as many people as possible that You-Know-Who really has returned, to put them on their guard," said Bill.**

**"It's proving tricky, though."**

**"Why?"**

**"Because of the Ministry's attitude," said Tonks. "You saw Cornelius Fudge after You-Know- Who came back, Cris. Well, he hasn't shifted his position at all. He's absolutely refusing to believe it's happened." **

"Which will be the death of a lot of witches and wizards." Al said.

**"But why?" said Cris desperately. "Why's he being so stupid? If Dumbledore -"**

**"Ah, well, you've put your finger on the problem," said Mr. Weasley with a wry smile. "Dumbledore."**

**"Fudge is frightened of him, you see," said Tonks sadly.**

**"Frightened of Dumbledore?" said Cris incredulously.**

**"Frightened of what he's up to," said Mr. Weasley. "Fudge thinks Dumbledore's plotting to overthrow him. He thinks Dumbledore wants to be Minister for Magic." **

"You don't do you?" Lily asked.

"Not in the slightest, my passion is teaching, I am not very fond of politics, though I will give advice to those who ask." Dumbledore said. Fudge looked at him and blushed, how could he have been so stupid?

**"But Dumbledore doesn't want -"**

**"Of course he doesn't," said Mr. Weasley. "He's never wanted the Minister's job, even though a lot of people wanted him to take it when Millicent Bagnold retired. Fudge came to power instead, but he's never quite forgotten how much popular support Dumbledore had, even though Dumbledore never applied for the job."**

**"Deep down, Fudge knows Dumbledore's much cleverer than he is - a much more powerful wizard, and in the early days of his Ministry he was forever asking Dumbledore for help and advice," said Remus. "But it seems he's become fond of power, and much more confident. He loves being Minister for Magic and he's managed to convince himself that he's the clever one and Dumbledore's simply stirring up trouble for the sake of it." **

"That's just stupid. It's been proven that those who pretend will just wind up getting the short end later on. Power hungry people never stay in power for long." Gwen said.

**"How can he think that?" said Cris angrily. "How can he think Dumbledore would just make it all up - that I'd make it all up?"**

"I believe you now Miss Potter and I am dreadfully sorry." Fudge said. Cris looked at him and back at Percy as he continued reading when her green gaze fell on him.

**"Because accepting that Voldemort's back would mean trouble like the Ministry hasn't had to cope with for nearly fourteen years," said Sirius bitterly. "Fudge just can't bring himself to face it. It's so much more comfortable to convince himself Dumbledore's lying to destabilize him."**

**"You see the problem," said Remus. "While the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from Voldemort it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they really don't want to believe it in the first place. What's more, the Ministry's leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to report any of what they're calling Dumbledore's rumor- mongering, so most of the wizarding community are completely unaware any things happened, and that makes them easy targets for the Death Eaters if they're using the Imperius Curse."**

"So in reality you're no better than one of his supporters." Lily said.

"You are enabling him to stay in hiding when you need to speak out get everyone ready for the worst." Gwen said.

**"But you're telling people, aren't you?" said Cris, looking around at Mr. Weasley, Sirius, Bill, Mundungus, Remus and Tonks. "You're letting people know he's back?"**

**They all smiled humorlessly.**

**"Well, as everyone thinks I'm a mad mass-murderer and the Ministry's put a ten thousand Galleon price on my head, I can hardly stroll up the street and start handing out leaflets, can I?" said Sirius restlessly.**

**"And I'm not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community," said Remus. "It's an occupational hazard of being a werewolf."**

"It's gets a lot better dad." Teddy said.

"Good," Remus said.

**"Tonks and Arthur would lose their jobs at the Ministry if they started shooting their mouths off," said Sirius, "and it's very important for us to have spies inside the Ministry, because you can bet Voldemort will have them."**

**"We've managed to convince a couple of people, though," said Mr. Weasley, "Tonks here, for one - she's too young to have been in the Order of the Phoenix last time, and having Aurors on our side is a huge advantage - Kingsley Shacklebolt's been a real asset, too; he's in charge of the hunt for Sirius, so he's been feeding the Ministry information that Sirius is in Tibet."**

Fudge and Umbridge turned to look at Kingsley in shock as he smiled and laughed.

**"But if none of you are putting the news out that Voldemort's back -" Cris began.**

**"Who said none of us are putting the news out?" said Sirius. "Why d'you think Dumbledore's in such trouble?"**

**"What d'you mean?" Cris asked.**

**"They're trying to discredit him," said Remus. "Didn't you see the Daily Prophet last week? They reported that he'd been voted out of the Chairmanship of the International Confederation of Wizards because he's getting old and losing his grip, but it's not true; he was voted out by Ministry wizards after he made a speech announcing Voldemort's return. They've demoted him from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot - that's the Wizard High Court - and they're talking about taking away his Order of Merlin, First Class, too."**

"They can't do that can they?" Lily asked.

"I don't know, maybe." Prongs said.

**"But Dumbledore says he doesn't care what they do as long as they don't take him off the Chocolate Frog Cards," said Bill, grinning.**

"Just like him," Robin snorted.

**"It's no laughing matter," said Mr. Weasley sharply. "If he carries on defying the Ministry like this he could end up in Azkaban, and the last thing we want is to have Dumbledore locked up. While You-Know-Who knows Dumbledore's out there and wise to what he's up to he's going to go cautiously. If Dumbledore's out of the way - well, You-Know-Who will have a clear field."**

Keiran shared a looked with his cousin and god siblings and winced. Dumbledore had died in the middle of the second war.

**"But if Voldemort's trying to recruit more Death Eaters it's bound to get out that he's come back, isn't it?" asked Cris desperately.**

**"Voldemort doesn't march up to people's houses and bang on their front doors, Cris," said Sirius. "He tricks, jinxes and blackmails them. He's well-practiced at operating in secret. In any case, gathering followers is only one thing he's interested in. He's got other plans too, plans he can put into operation very quietly indeed, and he's concentrating on those for the moment."**

**"What's he after apart from followers?" Cris asked swiftly. She thought she saw Sirius and Remus exchange the most fleeting of looks before Sirius answered.**

**"Stuff he can only get by stealth."**

**When Cris continued to look puzzled, Sirius said, "Like a weapon. Something he didn't have last time."**

"You should have said that." Dumbledore said quietly.

**"When he was powerful before?"**

**"Yes."**

**"Like what kind of weapon?" said Cris. "Something worse than the Avada Kedavra -?"**

"In a way," Remus said.

"What is it?" Cris asked.

"I'm sure it'll come up." Sirius said. They didn't want her to know yet.

**"That's enough!"**

**Mrs. Weasley spoke from the shadows beside the door. Cris hadn't noticed her return from taking Ginny upstairs. Her arms were crossed and she looked furious.**

**"I want you in bed, now. All of you," she added, looking around at Fred, George, Ron and Hermione.**

**"You can't boss us -" Fred began.**

"Just watch her." Lily said.

**"Watch me," snarled Mrs. Weasley. **

**She was trembling slightly as she looked at Sirius. "You've given Cris plenty of information. Anymore and you might just as well induct her into the Order straightaway."**

**"Why not?" said Cris quickly. "I'll join, I want to join, I want to fight."**

"So stubborn." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Just like her mother." Remus said with a smile.

**"No."**

**It was not Mrs. Weasley who spoke this time, but Remus.**

**"The Order is comprised only of overage wizards," he said. "Wizards who have left school," he added, as Fred and George opened their mouths. "There are dangers involved of which you can have no idea, any of you… I think Molly's right, Sirius. We've said enough."**

**Sirius half-shrugged but did not argue. Mrs. Weasley beckoned imperiously to her sons and Hermione. One by one they stood up and Cris, recognizing defeat, followed suit..**

"That's the chapter." Percy said.

"Well that was enlightening." Padfoot said. Fudge took the book and started the next chapter.


	7. Chapter 6: Noble House of Black

"**Chapter 6: The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black," **Fudge read.

"Great, how long until we get to Hogwarts?" Padfoot asked.

"Soon enough." Cris said.

**Mrs. Weasley followed them upstairs looking grim. **

**"I want you all to go straight to bed, no talking," she said as they reached the first landing, "we've got a busy day tomorrow. I expect Ginny's asleep," she added to Hermione, "so try not to wake her up."**

**"****Asleep, yeah, right," said Fred in an undertone, after Hermione bade them goodnight and they were climbing to the next floor. "If Ginny's not lying awake waiting for Hermione to tell her everything they said downstairs then I'm a Flobberworm…"**

"That's exactly what I was doing." Ginny whispered.

"Why am I not surprised." Neville whispered with a smile.

**"****All right, Ron, Cris," said Mrs. Weasley on the second landing, pointing them into their bedroom. "Off to bed with you."**

**"Night," Cris and Ron said to the twins.**

**"****Sleep tight," said Fred, winking. Cris blushed brightly at that but turned away quickly and went into the room. **

"We noticed that you know." Fred said.

"I figured." Cris mumbled under her breath. The twins chuckled and kissed her head.

**Mrs. Weasley closed the door behind Cris with a sharp snap. The bedroom looked, if anything, even danker and gloomier than it had on first sight. The blank picture on the wall was now breathing very slowly and deeply, as though its invisible occupant was asleep. Cris changed in the bathroom across the hall and took out her contacts she walked back in and climbed into her chilly bed while Ron threw Owl Treats up on top of the wardrobe to pacify Hedwig and Pigwidgeon, who were clattering around and rustling their wings restlessly.**

**"****We can't let them out to hunt every night," Ron explained as he pulled on his maroon pajamas. **

Ron blushed at that.

"If it makes you feel any better I didn't see a thing." Cris said.

"Thanks Bolt," Ron said.

**"****Dumbledore doesn't want too many owls swooping around the square, thinks it'll look suspicious. Oh yeah… I forgot…"**

**He crossed to the door and bolted it.**

**"****What're you doing that for?"**

**"****Kreacher," said Ron as he turned off the light. "First night I was here he came wandering in at three in the morning. Trust me, you don't want to wake up and find him prowling around your room. Anyway…" **

"Yeah, that would be a bit awkward." Tonks said.

"You have no idea." Padfoot said.

**he got into his bed, settled down under the covers then turned to look at Cris in the darkness; Cris could see his outline by the moonlight filtering in through the grimy window, "what d'you reckon?"**

**Cris didn't need to ask what Ron meant.**

**"****Well, they didn't tell us much we couldn't have guessed, did they?" she said, thinking of all that had been said downstairs. "I mean, all they've really said is that the Order's trying to stop people joining Vol—"**

**There was a sharp intake of breath from Ron.**

**"—****demort," said Cris firmly. "When are you going to start using his name? Sirius and Remus do."**

**Ron ignored this last comment.**

**"Yeah, you're right," he said, "we already knew nearly everything they told us, from using the Extendable Ears. The only new bit was -"**

**Crack.**

"And here comes the twins." Sirius said with a grin.

"You better do anything to her." Prongs said.

"Dad, Ron was in the room as well." Cris said. Prongs blushed, he forgot about that.

**"OUCH!"**

**"Keep your voice down, Ron, or Mum'll be back up here."**

**"You two just Apparated on my knees!"**

"Sorry," George said.

**"Yeah, well, it's harder in the dark."**

"It really shouldn't be that hard, as long you can visualize the place then it shouldn't be too hard." Bill said.

"Well as you see, I landed on Ron's knees." George said.

**Cris saw the blurred outlines of Fred and George leaping down from Ron's bed. There was a groan of bedsprings and Cris' mattress descended a few inches as George sat down near her feet.**

**"So, got there yet?" said George eagerly.**

**"The weapon Sirius mentioned?" said Cris.**

**"Let slip, more like," said Fred with relish, now sitting next to Ron. "We didn't hear about that on the old Extendables, did we?"**

**"What d'you reckon it is?" said Cris.**

**"Could be anything," said Fred.**

**"But there can't be anything worse than the Avada Kedavra Curse, can there?" said Ron. "What's worse than death?"**

**"Maybe it's something that can kill loads of people at once," suggested George.**

"Don't even talk about that, you don't want grenades or bombs." Gwen said.

"I don't even want to think about if they do get ahold of them." Cris said.

"That would be really bad." Lily said.

**"Maybe it's some particularly painful way of killing people," said Ron fearfully.**

**"He's got the Cruciatus Curse for causing pain," said Cris, "he doesn't need anything more efficient than that." The thought made her shudder as if she felt the curses effect again.**

"Don't even think about it honey." Lily said. Cris nodded, she really didn't want to think of that either.

**There was a pause and Cris knew that the others, like her, were wondering what horrors this weapon could perpetrate.**

**"So who d'you think's got it now?" asked George.**

**"I hope it's our side," said Ron, sounding slightly nervous.**

**"If it is, Dumbledore's probably keeping it," said Fred.**

**"Where?" said Ron quickly. "Hogwarts?"**

"I don't think it's there, it hasn't been very safe the last few years." Hermione said.

"That's true; I've almost died three times." Cris said.

"Don't say that." Lily whimpered.

**"Bet it is!" said George. "That's where he hid the Philosopher's Stone."**

"And three first years got to it." McGonagall said.

"Right, so it wouldn't be there." Padfoot said.

"So where is it?" Moony asked.

"I think we'll find out." Prongs said.

**"A weapons going to be a lot bigger than the Stone, though!" said Ron.**

**"Not necessarily" said Fred.**

**"Yeah, size is no guarantee of power," said George. "Look at Ginny and Cris." Cris turned to glare at him and he flinched and turned back. **

"You should know better than that George." Sirius said.

"I know." George said.

**"What is that supposed to mean?" said Cris.**

**"Just that even though the two of you are short you show us up quite a lot? ****You've never been on the receiving end of one of her Bat-Bogey Hexes, have you****?"**

"That's very true, you never know what to expect from Cris." Remus said.

"And Ginny's Bat-Bogeys are dangerous." Fred said.

**"****Shh!" said Fred, half-rising from the bed. "Listen!"**

**They fell silent. Footsteps were coming up the stairs.**

"Mum," Charlie and Bill said.

**"****Mum," said George and without further ado there was a loud crack and Cris felt the weight vanish from the end of her bed. A few seconds later, they heard the floorboard creak outside their door; Mrs. Weasley was plainly listening to check whether or not they were talking.**

**Hedwig and Pigwidgeon hooted dolefully. The floorboard creaked again and they heard her heading upstairs to check on Fred and George.**

**"****She doesn't trust us at all, you know," said Ron regretfully.**

"Well you weren't supposed to be talking." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Mum, that's not going to work at all, they will talk about it whether you want them to or not." Bill said. Mrs. Weasley blushed; she should have known it would be futile.

**Cris was sure she would not be able to fall asleep; the evening had been so packed with things to think about that she fully expected to lie awake for hours mulling it all over. She wanted to continue talking to Ron, but Mrs. Weasley was now creaking back downstairs again, and once she had gone she distinctly heard others making their way upstairs… in fact, many-legged creatures were cantering softly up and down outside the bedroom door, and Hagrid the Care of Magical Creatures teacher was saying, "Beauties, arn' they, eh, Cris? We'll be studyin' weapons this term…" and Cris saw that the creatures had cannons for heads and were wheeling to face her… she ducked…**

"So it turned from you thinking to you dreaming." Fred said.

"That's why I liked just sleeping with the two of you; I don't have strange dreams or nightmares." Cris said.

"That's what we're here for." George said kissing her head.

**The next thing she knew, she was curled into a warm ball under her bedclothes and George's loud voice was filling the room.**

"My voice isn't loud, is it?" George asked.

"It can be rather loud papa." James said.

"Dad can be as equally loud as well." Al said. The twins blushed at that and Fudge continued reading.

**"****Mum says get up, your breakfast is in the kitchen and then she needs you in the drawing room, there are loads more Doxys than she thought and she's found a nest of dead Puffskeins under the sofa."**

"Good grief, it's sounds like a zoo." Gwen said.

"It did remind me of a zoo." Cris said.

**Half an hour later Cris and Ron, who had dressed and breakfasted quickly, entered the drawing room, a long, high-ceilinged room on the first floor with olive green walls covered in dirty tapestries. The carpet exhaled little clouds of dust every time someone put their foot on it and the long, moss green velvet curtains were buzzing as though swarming with invisible bees. It was around these that Mrs. Weasley, Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George were grouped, all looking rather peculiar as they had each tied a cloth over their nose and mouth. Each of them was also holding a large bottle of black liquid with a nozzle at the end.**

**"****Cover your faces and take a spray," Mrs. Weasley said to Cris and Ron the moment she saw them, pointing to two more bottles of black liquid standing on a spindle-legged table. "It's Doxycide. I've never seen an infestation this bad - what that house-elf's been doing for the last ten years -"**

**Hermione's face was half concealed by a tea towel but Cris distinctly saw her throw a reproachful look at Mrs. Weasley.**

"He hasn't been doing squat, as he?" Padfoot asked.

"Nope," Sirius said.

**"****You'd be surprised what Kreacher can manage when he wants to, Hermione," said Sirius, who had just entered the room carrying a bloodstained bag of what appeared to be dead rats. "I've just been feeding Buckbeak," he added, in reply to Cris' enquiring look. "I keep him upstairs in my mother's bedroom.**

"Nice," Padfoot said with a wide smile.

**Anyway… this writing desk…"**

**He dropped the bag of rats into an armchair, then bent over to examine the locked cabinet which, Cris now noticed for the first time, was shaking slightly.**

"Most likely a boggart." Kingsley said.

**"****Well, Molly, I'm pretty sure this is a Boggart," said Sirius, peering through the keyhole, "but perhaps we ought to let Mad-Eye have a shifty at it before we let it out - knowing my mother, it could be something much worse."**

"Exactly, get Mad-Eye to look at it first." Lily said.

**"****Right you are, Sirius," said Mrs. Weasley.**

**They were both speaking in carefully light, polite voices that told Cris quite plainly that neither had forgotten their disagreement of the night before.**

**A loud, clanging bell sounded from downstairs, followed at once by the cacophony of screams and wails that had been triggered the previous night by Tonks knocking over the umbrella stand.**

**"****I keep telling them not to ring the doorbell!" said Sirius exasperatedly, hurrying out of the room. They heard him thundering down the stairs as Mrs. Black's screeches echoed up through the house once more:**

**"****Stains, of dishonor, filthy half-breeds, blood traitors, children of filth."**

"Shut her up already." Padfoot said.

"Don't worry dad, we took it down and burned it." Keiran said.

"Yes!" Sirius and Padfoot exclaimed.

**"****Close the door, please, Cris," said Mrs. Weasley.**

**Cris took as much time as she dared to close the drawing-room door; she wanted to listen to what was going on downstairs. Sirius had obviously managed to shut the curtains over his mother's portrait because she had stopped screaming. She heard Sirius walking down the hall, then the clattering of the chain on the front door, and then a deep voice she recognized as Kingsley Shacklebolt's saying, "Hestia's just relieved me, so she's got Moody's Cloak now, thought I'd leave a report for Dumbledore…"**

**Feeling Mrs. Weasley's eyes on the back of her head, Cris regretfully closed the drawing-room door and rejoined the Doxy party.**

**Mrs. Weasley was bending over to check the page on Doxys in Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests, which was lying open on the sofa.**

"Why are you using that?" Sirius asked.

"He may have been false, but the information is true." Mrs. Weasley said.

**"****Right, you lot, you need to be careful, because Doxy's bite and their teeth are poisonous. I've got a bottle of antidote here, but I'd rather nobody needed it."**

**She straightened up, positioned herself squarely in front of the curtains and beckoned them all forward.**

**"****When I say the word, start spraying immediately," she said. "They'll come flying out at us, I expect, but it says on the sprays one good squirt will paralyze them. When they're immobilized, just throw them in this bucket."**

**She stepped carefully out of their line of fire, and raised her own spray.**

**"****All right - squirt!"**

**Cris had been spraying only a few seconds when a fully-grown Doxy came soaring out of a fold in the material, shiny beetle-like wings whirring, tiny needle-sharp teeth bared, its fairy-like body covered with thick black hair and its four tiny fists clenched with fury. Cris caught it full in the face with a blast of Doxycide. It froze in midair and fell, with a surprisingly loud hunk, on to the worn carpet below. Cris picked it up and threw it in the bucket.**

**"Fred, what are you doing?" said Mrs. Weasley sharply. "Spray that at once and throw it away!"**

"What are you two doing now?" Bill asked.

"You'll see dearest brother." The said together which made Bill shake his head.

**Cris looked round. Fred was holding a struggling Doxy between his forefinger and thumb.**

**"****Right-o,' Fred said brightly, spraying the Doxy quickly in the face so that it fainted, but the moment Mrs. Weasley's back was turned he pocketed it with a wink.**

"Frederick!" Mrs. Weasley shouted.

"What are you two going to be doing with that?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Something," Fred and George said. Their parents sighed and shook their heads.

**"****We want to experiment with Doxy venom for our Skiving Snackboxes," George told Cris under his breath.**

"Isn't that dangerous?" Charlie asked.

"Nah, they made it work." Keiran said.

**Deftly spraying two Doxys at once as they soared straight for his nose, Cris moved closer to George and muttered out of the corner of her mouth, "What are Skiving Snackboxes?"**

**"****Range of sweets to make you ill," George whispered,**

"George!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed.

"There are antidotes as well." George said.

**keeping a wary eye on Mrs. Weasley's back. "Not seriously ill, mind, just ill enough to get you out of a class when you feel like it. Fred and I have been developing them this summer. They're double-ended, color-coded chews. If you eat the orange half of the Puking Pastilles, you throw up. Moment you've been rushed out of the lesson for the hospital wing, you swallow the purple half –"**

**"****which restores you to full fitness, enabling you to pursue the leisure activity of your own choice during an hour that would otherwise have been devoted to unprofitable boredom. That's what we're putting in the adverts, anyway," whispered Fred, **

"Cool!" shouted the marauders.

"How come we never thought of that?" Prongs asked.

"I have no idea." Moony said.

**who had edged over out of Mrs. Weasley's line of vision and was now sweeping a few stray Doxys from the floor and adding them to his pocket. "But they still need a bit of work. At the moment our testers are having a bit of trouble stopping puking long enough to swallow the purple end."**

"Who are the testers?" Mrs. Weasley asked worried, it better not have been any of the students at Hogwarts.

"Not who you think, mum." Fred said.

**"****Testers?"**

**"****Us," said Fred. "We take it in turns. George did the Fainting Fancies - we both tried the Nosebleed Nougat -"**

"Those sound cool." Padfoot said.

"Yeah, if we had them you wouldn't be going to class at all." Moony said.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Padfoot said.

**"****Mum thought we'd been dueling," said George.**

**"****Joke shop still on, then?" Cris muttered, pretending to be adjusting the nozzle on her spray.**

**"****Well, we haven't had a chance to get premises yet," said Fred, dropping his voice even lower as Mrs. Weasley mopped her brow with her scarf before returning to the attack, "so we're running it as a mail-order service at the moment. We put advertisements in the Daily Prophet last week."**

"No wonder we didn't see it, we're not reading the Prophet anymore." Bill said.

"And it succeeds." James said with a wide smile.

**"****All thanks to you, mate," said George. "But don't worry… Mum hasn't got a clue. She won't read the Daily Prophet anymore, 'cause of it telling lies about you and Dumbledore."**

**Cris grinned. She had forced the Weasley twins to take the thousand Galleons prize money she had won in the Triwizard Tournament to help them realize their ambition to open a joke shop, but she was still glad to know that her part in furthering their plans was unknown to Mrs. Weasley. She did not think running a joke shop was a suitable career for two of her sons.**

"Well, now I can't really stop you, since it is going strong in the future." Mrs. Weasley sighed.

"And it's all thanks to you, Bambi." Fred said. He kissed her firmly on the lips.

"We couldn't have done it without you." George said. He kissed her too as Fudge continued reading.

**The de-Doxying of the curtains took most of the morning. It was past midday when Mrs. Weasley finally removed her protective scarf, sank into a sagging armchair and sprang up again with a cry of disgust, having sat on the bag of dead rats. The curtains were no longer buzzing; they hung limp and damp from the intensive spraying. At the foot of them unconscious Doxys lay crammed in the bucket beside a bowl of their black eggs, at which Crookshanks was now sniffing and Fred and George were shooting covetous looks.**

**"****I think we'll tackle those after lunch." Mrs. Weasley pointed at the dusty glass-fronted cabinets standing on either side of the mantelpiece. They were crammed with an odd assortment of objects: a selection of rusty daggers, claws, a coiled snakeskin, a number of tarnished silver boxes inscribed with languages Cris could not understand and, least pleasant of all, an ornate crystal bottle with a large opal set into the stopper, full of what Cris was quite sure was blood.**

"It probably was." Padfoot said.

"Your family seems to be very dark." Gwen said.

"As dark as some." Sirius said.

**The clanging doorbell rang again. Everyone looked at Mrs. Weasley.**

**"****Stay here," she said firmly, snatching up the bag of rats as Mrs. Black's screeches started up again from down below. "I'll bring up some sandwiches."**

**She left the room, closing the door carefully behind her. At once, everyone dashed over to the window to look down on the doorstep. They could see the top of an unkempt gingery head and a stack of precariously balanced cauldrons.**

"It's Dung again." Prongs said.

"And he's brought cauldrons. Why did he bring cauldrons?" Lily asked.

"I have no idea what he's thinking most of the time." Sirius said.

**"****Mundungus!" said Hermione. "What's he brought all those cauldrons for?"**

**"****Probably looking for a safe place to keep them," said Cris. "Isn't that what he was doing the night he was supposed to be tailing me? Picking up dodgy cauldrons?"**

**"****Yeah, you're right!" said Fred, as the front door opened; Mundungus heaved his cauldrons through it and disappeared from view. "Blimey, Mum won't like that…"**

**He and George crossed to the door and stood beside it, listening closely. Mrs. Black's screaming had stopped.**

**"****Mundungus is talking to Sirius and Kingsley," Fred muttered, frowning with concentration. "Can't hear properly… d'you reckon we can risk the Extendable Ears?"**

"I don't think you'll be needing them in a minute." Charlie said.

**"****Might be worth it," said George. "I could sneak up stairs and get a pair -"**

**But at that precise moment there was an explosion of sound from downstairs that rendered Extendable Ears quite unnecessary. All of them could hear exactly what Mrs. Weasley was shouting at the top of her voice.**

**"****WE ARE NOT RUNNING A HIDEOUT FOR STOLEN GOODS!"**

"See, told you." Charlie said with a grin.

**"****I love hearing Mum shouting at someone else," said Fred, with a satisfied smile on his face as he opened the door an inch or so to allow Mrs. Weasley's voice to permeate the room better, "it makes such a nice change."**

"That it does." Bill said with a grin.

**"****- COMPLETELY IRRESPONSIBLE, AS IF WE HAVEN'T GOT ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT WITHOUT YOU DRAGGING STOLEN CAULDRONS INTO THE HOUSE -"**

**"****The idiots are letting her get into her stride," said George, shaking his head. "You've got to head her off early otherwise she builds up a head of steam and goes on for hours. And she's been dying to have a go at Mundungus ever since he sneaked off when he was supposed to be following you, Cris - and there goes Sirius's mum again."**

"Who can out shout who?" Padfoot asked.

"I'm not sure, it's very close." George said. Mrs. Weasley blushed at that and Fudge continued reading with a smile on his face.

**Mrs. Weasley's voice was lost amid fresh shrieks and screams from the portraits in the hall.**

**George made to shut the door to drown the noise, but before he could do so, a house-elf edged into the room.**

**Except for the filthy rag tied like a loincloth around its middle, it was completely naked. It looked very old. Its skin seemed to be several times too big for it and, though it was bald like all house-elves, there was a quantity of white hair growing out of its large, batlike ears. Its eyes were a bloodshot and watery grey and its fleshy nose was large and rather snout like.**

"He sounds much worse." Padfoot said.

"Well he has been on his own for ten years." Sirius said.

**The elf took absolutely no notice of Cris and the rest. Acting as though it could not see them, it shuffled hunchbacked, slowly and doggedly, towards the far end of the room, all the while muttering under its breath in a hoarse, deep voice like a bullfrogs.**

**"… ****smells like a drain and a criminal to boot, but she's no better, nasty old blood traitor with her brats messing up my mistress's house, oh, my poor mistress, if she knew, if she knew the scum they've let into her house, what would she say to old Kreacher, oh, the shame of it, Mudbloods and werewolves and traitors and thieves, poor old Kreacher, what can he do…"**

"But he is really nice now." Lily J said.

"He didn't use to be." Keiran said.

"Why didn't we know that?" James asked.

"I thought mum and dad told you or at least your parents." Keiran said.

"Well, now we know." Al said.

**"****Hello, Kreacher," said Fred very loudly, closing the door with a snap.**

**The house-elf froze in his tracks, stopped muttering, and gave a very pronounced and very unconvincing start of surprise.**

**"****Kreacher did not see young master," he said, turning around and bowing to Fred. Still facing the carpet, he added, perfectly audibly, "Nasty little brat of a blood traitor it is."**

"Don't call my children that." Mr. and Mrs. Weasley snapped.

**"****Sorry?" said George. "Didn't catch that last bit."**

**"****Kreacher said nothing," said the elf, with a second bow to George, adding in a clear undertone, "and there's its twin, unnatural little beasts they are."**

"Rude," Gwen said.

**Cris didn't know whether to punch him for saying that. She stopped mid thought, when did she start thinking of the twins in that way? **

The twins chuckled and kissed her head again.

**The elf straightened up, eyeing them all****malevolently, and apparently convinced that they could not hear him as he continued to mutter.**

**"… ****and there's the Mudblood, **

"Don't call her that!" shouted most of the room.

**standing there bold as brass, oh, if my mistress knew, oh, how she'd cry, and there's a new girl, Kreacher doesn't know her name. What is she doing here? Kreacher doesn't know…"**

**"****This is Cris, Kreacher," said Hermione tentatively. "Cris Potter."**

**Kreacher's pale eyes widened and he muttered faster and more furiously than ever.**

**"****The Mudblood is talking to Kreacher as though she is my friend, if Kreacher's mistress saw him in such company, oh, what would she say -"**

**"****Don't call her a Mudblood!" said Ron and Ginny together, very angrily.**

**"****It doesn't matter," Hermione whispered, "he's not in his right mind, he doesn't know what he's -" **

"Oh yes he is." Padfoot said. "Don't confuse it for being insane."

**"****Don't kid yourself, Hermione, he knows exactly what he's saying," said Fred, eying Kreacher with great dislike.**

**Kreacher was still muttering, his eyes on Cris.**

**"****Is it true? Is it Cristal Potter? Kreacher can see the scar, it must be true, that's the girl who stopped the Dark Lord, Kreacher wonders how she did it -"**

**"****Don't we all, Kreacher," said Fred.**

"It's because of me. Though I have no idea what it was." Lily said.

"It'll be in the books, I think." Keiran said.

**"****What do you want, anyway?" George asked.**

**Kreacher's huge eyes darted towards George.**

**"****Kreacher is cleaning," he said evasively.**

**"A likely story," said a voice behind Cris.**

**Sirius had come back; he was glowering at the elf from the doorway. The noise in the hall had abated; perhaps Mrs. Weasley and Mundungus had moved their argument down into the kitchen.**

"Or she hexed him." Bill said.

"Either one is good." Charlie said.

**At the sight of Sirius, Kreacher flung himself into a ridiculously low bow that flattened his snout like nose on the floor.**

**"****Stand up straight," said Sirius impatiently. "Now, what are you up to?"**

**"****Kreacher is cleaning," the elf repeated. "Kreacher lives to serve the Noble House of Black -"**

"Noble isn't exactly what I would call it." Padfoot said.

"We know Pads, we know." Prongs said.

**"****And it's getting blacker every day, it's filthy," said Sirius.**

"You and your puns." Prongs said.

"It's not my fault that my name is so punny." Sirius said.

"No, that'll be your mum." Robin said.

"Don't remind me." Padfoot said.

**"****Master always liked his little joke," said Kreacher, bowing again, and continuing in an undertone, "Master was a nasty ungrateful swine who broke his mother's heart -"**

"Like she had a heart." Padfoot said.

**"****My mother didn't have a heart, Kreacher," snapped Sirius. "She kept herself alive out of pure spite."**

"That seems about right." Padfoot said.

**Kreacher bowed again as he spoke.**

**"****Whatever Master says," he muttered furiously. "Master is not fit to wipe slime from his mother's boots, oh, my poor mistress, what would she say if she saw Kreacher serving him, how she hated him, what a disappointment he was -"**

**"****I asked you what you were up to," said Sirius coldly. "Every time you show up pretending to be cleaning, you sneak something off to your room so we can't throw it out."**

Keiran shared a look with the other future kids. That actually came in handy for the trio.

**"****Kreacher would never move anything from its proper place in Master's house," said the elf, then muttered very fast, "Mistress would never forgive Kreacher if the tapestry was thrown out, seven centuries it's been in the family, Kreacher must save it, Kreacher will not let Master and the blood traitors and the brats destroy it -"**

"Aunt Hermione made it so the ones blasted off are back on and most of the others are gone." Lily J said.

"And the others are added onto it as well." Scarlett said.

**"****I thought it might be that," said Sirius, casting a disdainful look at the opposite wall. "She'll have put another Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of it, I don't doubt, but if I can get rid of it I certainly will. Now go away, Kreacher."**

**It seemed that Kreacher did not dare disobey a direct order; nevertheless, the look he gave Sirius as he shuffled out past him was full of deepest loathing and he muttered all the way out of the room.**

**"****- comes back from Azkaban ordering Kreacher around, oh, my poor mistress, what would she say if she saw the house now, scum living in it, her treasures thrown out, she swore he was no son of hers and he's back, they say he's a murderer too -"**

**"****Keep muttering and I will be a murderer!" said Sirius irritably as he slammed the door shut on the elf.**

"Oh how I wish." Padfoot said.

"But he's nice now." Scarlett said.

"How did he get so nice?" Sirius asked.

"I'm not so sure. Cris did something to him in her seventh year." Keiran said.

"I wonder what I did." Cris said.

"We'll soon find out." George said.

**"****Sirius, he's not right in the head," Hermione pleaded, "I don't think he realizes we can hear him."**

**"****He's been alone too long," said Sirius, "taking mad orders from my mother's portrait and talking to himself, but he was always a foul little -"**

**"****If you could just set him free," said Hermione hopefully, "maybe -"**

**"****We can't set him free, he knows too much about the Order" said Sirius curtly. **

**"****And anyway, the shock would kill him. You suggest to him that he leaves this house, see how he takes it."**

Keiran scowled at that. His mum told him what had happened later this year. That elf almost cost his dad's life.

**Sirius walked across the room to where the tapestry Kreacher had been trying to protect hung the length of the wall. Cris and the others followed.**

**The tapestry looked immensely old; it was faded and looked as though Doxys had gnawed it in places. Nevertheless, the golden thread with which it was embroidered still glinted brightly enough to show them a sprawling family tree dating back (as far as Cris could tell) to the Middle Ages. Large words at the very top of the tapestry read:**

**The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black Toujours pur**

"Always pure," Draco and Padfoot said.

**"****You're not on here!" said Cris, after scanning the bottom of the tree closely.**

**"****I used to be there," said Sirius, pointing at a small, round, charred hole in the tapestry, rather like a cigarette burn. "My sweet old mother blasted me off after I ran away from home - Kreacher's quite fond of muttering the story under his breath."**

**"****You ran away from home?"**

**"When I was about sixteen," said Sirius. "I'd had enough."**

"I was surprised you lasted that long." Prongs said.

"I was worried they would come and get me and bring me back." Padfoot said.

**"****Where did you go?" asked Cris, staring at him.**

**"****Your dad's place," said Sirius. "Your grandparents were really good about it; they sort of adopted me as a second son. Yeah, I camped out at your dad's in the school holidays, and when I was seventeen I got a place of my own. My Uncle Alphard had left me a decent bit of gold - he's been wiped off here, too, that's probably why - anyway, after that I looked after myself. I was always welcome at Mr. and Mrs. Potter's for Sunday lunch, though."**

"What happened to my grandparents?" Cris asked. Prongs looked up at that too, he wanted to know what happened to his parents. Sirius, Robin and Remus looked at each other.

"They were killed in a Death Eater attack not long after we graduated." Sirius said. Prongs looked over at him.

"That's not long." Prongs whispered.

"I know, but we can stop it." Padfoot said. Prongs looked down and nodded, he didn't want his parents to die, he didn't want Lily and him dead.

**"****But… why did you…?"**

**"****Leave?" Sirius smiled bitterly and ran his fingers through his long, unkempt hair. "Because I hated the whole lot of them: my parents, with their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically royal… my idiot brother, soft enough to believe them… that's him."**

**Sirius jabbed a finger at the very bottom of the tree, at the name Regulus Black. A date of death (some fifteen years previously) followed the date of birth.**

**"He was younger than me," said Sirius, "and a much better son, as I was constantly reminded."**

**"****But he died," said Cris.**

**"****Yeah," said Sirius. "Stupid idiot… he joined the Death Eaters."**

"I can stop that too right?" Padfoot asked. Sirius nodded, the only reason why he stayed at that infernal house as long as he did was to protect his brother.

**"****You're kidding!"**

**"****Come on, Cris, haven't you seen enough of this house to tell what kind of wizards my family were?" said Sirius testily.**

**"****Were - were your parents Death Eaters as well?"**

"No," Padfoot said shaking his head.

**"****No, no, but believe me, they thought Voldemort had the right idea, they were all for the purification of the wizarding race, getting rid of Muggle-borns and having pure-bloods in charge. They weren't alone, either, there were quite a few people, before Voldemort showed his true colors, who thought he had the right idea about things… they got cold feet when they saw what he was prepared to do to get power, though. But I bet my parents thought Regulus was a right little hero for joining up at first."**

**"****Was he killed by an Auror?" Cris asked tentatively.**

**"****Oh, no," said Sirius. "No, he was murdered by Voldemort. Or on Voldemort's orders, more likely; I doubt Regulus was ever important enough to be killed by Voldemort in person. From what I found out after he died, he got in so far, then panicked about what he was being asked to do and tried to back out. **

"I should have been there for him." Padfoot muttered.

"You'll this go around." Moony said.

**Sirius now had a bittersweet smile on his face. "At least he try to back out… he wasn't that bad." But he was really thinking about how he had let his brother down somehow, by not protecting him; stopping him form ever joining in the first place.**

"I should have," Sirius said.

**Well, you don't just hand in your resignation to Voldemort. It's a lifetime of service or death."**

**"****Lunch," said Mrs. Weasleys voice.**

**She was holding her wand high in front of her, balancing a huge tray loaded with sandwiches and cake on its tip. She was very red in the face and still looked angry. The others moved over to her, eager for some food, but Cris remained with Sirius, who had bent closer to the tapestry.**

**"****I haven't looked at this for years. There's Phineas Nigellus… my great-great-grandfather, see?… least popular Headmaster Hogwarts ever had… and Araminta Mehflua… cousin of my mother's… tried to force through a Ministry Bill to make Muggle-hunting legal… **

"Your family are lunatics." Gwen said.

"I know, except for a few exceptions." Sirius said.

**and dear Aunt Elladora… she started the family tradition of beheading house-elves when they got too old to carry tea trays… of course, any time the family produced someone halfway decent they were disowned. I see Tonks isn't on here. Maybe that's why Kreacher won't take orders from her - he's supposed to do whatever anyone in the family asks him -"**

**"****You and Tonks are related?" Cris asked, surprised.**

**"Oh, yeah, her mother Andromeda was my favorite cousin," said Sirius, examining the tapestry closely. "No, Andromeda's not on here either, look -"**

**He pointed to another small round burn mark between two names, Bellatrix and Narcissa. **

"Okay, I have to ask, what is with the names?" Gwen asked.

"Blacks are named after constellations or stars." Sirius said. Gwen nodded now she understood.

**"****Andromeda's sisters are still here because they made lovely, respectable pure-blood marriages, but Andromeda married a Muggle-born, Ted Tonks, so -"**

**Sirius mimed blasting the tapestry with a wand and laughed sourly. Cris, however, did not laugh; she was too busy staring at the names to the right of Andromeda's burn mark. A double line of gold embroidery linked Narcissa Black with Lucius Malfoy and a single vertical gold line from their names led to the name Draco.**

**"****You're related to the Malfoy's!"**

"We're all related somehow." Mr. Weasley said.

"That is crazy." Gwen said.

**"The pure-blood families are all interrelated," said Sirius. "If you're only going to let your sons and daughters marry pure-bloods your choice is very limited; there are hardly any of us left.**

**Molly and I are cousins by marriage and Arthur's something like my second cousin once removed. But there's no point looking for them on here - if ever a family was a bunch of blood traitors it's the Weasleys."**

"Are we on there now?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Yep, in fact we've had to create a new one." Scarlett said.

"And that one is hanging in the new house." Teddy said.

**But Cris was now looking at the name to the left of Andromeda's burn: Bellatrix Black, which was connected by a double line to Rodolphus Lestrange.**

**"****Lestrange…" Cris said aloud. The name had stirred something in her memory; she knew it from somewhere, but for a moment she couldn't think where, though it gave her an odd, creeping sensation in the pit of her stomach. **

**"****They're in Azkaban," said Sirius shortly.**

**Cris looked at him curiously.**

**"****Bellatrix and her husband Rodolphus came in with Barty Crouch Junior," said Sirius, in the same brusque voice. "Rodolphus' brother Rabastan was with them, too." **

"They can stay there too." Sirius said.

"Good riddance." Padfoot said.

**Then Cris remembered. She had seen Bellatrix Lestrange inside Dumbledore's Pensieve, the strange device in which thoughts and memories could be stored: a tall dark woman with heavy lidded eyes, who had stood at her trial and proclaimed her continuing allegiance to Lord Voldemort, her pride that she had tried to find him after his downfall and her conviction that she would one day be rewarded for her loyalty.**

**"****You never said she was your -"**

**"****Does it matter if she's my cousin?" snapped Sirius. "As far as I'm concerned, they're not my family. She's certainly not my family. I haven't seen her since I was your age, unless you count a glimpse of her coming into Azkaban. D'you think I'm proud of having a relative like her?"**

"I didn't mean it like that." Cris said.

"I know, I was just going stir crazy." Sirius said.

"I understand." Cris said.

**"****Sorry," said Cris quickly, "I didn't mean - I was just surprised, that's all -"**

**"****It doesn't matter, don't apologize," Sirius mumbled. He turned away from the tapestry, his hands deep in his pockets. "I don't like being back here," he said, staring across the drawing room. "I never thought I'd be stuck in this house again."**

**Cris understood completely. She knew how she would feel, when she was grown up and thought she was free of the place forever, to return and live at number four, Privet Drive.**

**"****It's ideal for Headquarters, of course," Sirius said. "My father put every security measure known to wizard kind on it when he lived here. It's unplottable, so Muggles could never come and call - as if they'd ever have wanted to - and now Dumbledore's added his protection, you'd be hard put to find a safer house anywhere. Dumbledore is Secret Keeper for the Order, you know – nobody can find Headquarters unless he tells them personally where it is - that note Moody showed you last night, that was from Dumbledore…" Sirius gave a short, bark-like laugh. "If my parents could see the use their house was being put to now… well, my mother's portrait should give you some idea."**

"A little revenge goes a long way." Luna said.

**He scowled for a moment, then sighed.**

**"I wouldn't mind if I could just get out occasionally and do something useful. I've asked Dumbledore whether I can escort you to your hearing - as Snuffles, obviously - so I can give you a bit of moral support, what d'you think?"**

"I would have loved it, it definitely would have kept me calmer." Cris said.

"I take it you were freaking out." Sirius said.

"You can say that." Cris said.

**Cris felt as though her stomach had sunk through the dusty carpet. She had not thought about the hearing once since dinner the previous evening; in the excitement of being back with the people she liked best, and hearing everything that was going on, it had completely flown her mind. At Sirius's words, however, the crushing sense of dread returned to her. She stared at Hermione and the Weasleys, all tucking into their sandwiches, and thought how she would feel if they went back to Hogwarts without her.**

"It would have been horrible." Hermione said.

"I would be sitting with Sirius going out of my mind." Cris said. The room chuckled at that.

**"****Don't worry," Sirius said. Cris looked up and realized that Sirius had been watching her. "I'm sure they'll clear you, there's definitely something in the International Statute of Secrecy about being allowed to use magic to save your own life."**

**"****But if they do expel me," said Cris quietly, "can I come back here and live with you?" **

"Don't think like that." Lily said. Cris just smiled at her mum.

**Sirius smiled sadly.**

**"****We'll see."**

**"****I'd feel a lot better about the hearing if I knew I didn't have to go back to the Dursley's," Cris pressed him.**

**"****They must be bad if you prefer this place," said Sirius gloomily.**

"It's not like I preferred it, just the company." Cris said.

"Ah, now that makes more sense." Sirius said with a laugh.

**"****Hurry up, you two, or there won't be any food left," Mrs. Weasley called.**

**Sirius heaved another great sigh, cast a dark look at the tapestry, then he and Cris went to join the others.**

**Cris tried her best not to think about the hearing while they emptied the glass-fronted cabinets that afternoon. Fortunately for her, it was a job that required a lot of concentration, as many of the objects in there seemed very reluctant to leave their dusty shelves. Sirius sustained a bad bite from a silver snuffbox; within seconds his bitten hand had developed an unpleasant crusty covering like a tough brown glove.**

"That's gross." Gwen said.

"It wasn't too dangerous." Sirius said.

**"****It's okay," he said, examining the hand with interest before tapping it lightly with his wand and restoring its skin to normal, "must be Wartcap powder in there."**

**He threw the box aside into the sack where they were depositing the debris from the cabinets; Cris saw George wrap his own hand carefully in a cloth moments later and sneak the box into his already Doxy-filled pocket. George looked over to see Cris watching him. The moment their eyes made contact Cris looked away with a blush. **

"What are we going to do with you two?" Bill asked. Fred and George just smiled at their older brother.

"Someone has a crush." Prongs said with a wide smile.

**They found an unpleasant-looking silver instrument, something like a many-legged pair of tweezers, which scuttled up Cris' arm like a spider when she picked it up, and attempted to puncture her skin. Sirius seized it and smashed it with a heavy book entitled Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy. There was a musical box that emitted a faintly sinister, tinkling tune when wound, and they all found themselves becoming curiously weak and sleepy, until Ginny had the sense to slam the lid shut; a heavy locket that none of them could open;**

Teddy shared a look with Lily J, is only they had known what it was then Dumbledore would have destroyed it right then.

**a number of ancient seals; and, in a dusty box, an Order of Merlin, First Class, that had been awarded to Sirius's grandfather for services to the Ministry. **

**"****It means he gave them a load of gold," said Sirius contemptuously, throwing the medal into the rubbish sack.**

"You know, you should really not just give those away like that." Gwen said.

"Mum, Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron have that." Lily J said.

"And it wasn't because they gave the Ministry gold. In fact a lot has changed." James said.

"Cool," Cris said.

**Several times Kreacher sidled into the room and attempted to smuggle things away under his loincloth, muttering horrible curses every time they caught him at it. When Sirius wrested a large golden ring bearing the Black crest from his grip, Kreacher actually burst into furious tears and left the room sobbing under his breath and calling Sirius names Cris had never heard before.**

"He shouldn't be swearing." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Like we can stop him." Remus said.

**"****It was my father's," said Sirius, throwing the ring into the sack. "Kreacher wasn't quite as devoted to him as to my mother, but I still caught him snogging a pair of my father's old trousers last week."**

"Mental house-elf." Charlie said with a snicker.

**Mrs. Weasley kept them all working very hard over the next few days. The drawing room took three days to decontaminate. Finally, the only undesirable things left in it were the tapestry of the Black family tree, which resisted all their attempts to remove it from the wall, and the rattling writing desk. Moody had not dropped by Headquarters yet, so they could not be sure what was inside it.**

**They moved from the drawing room to a dining room on the ground floor where they found spiders as large as saucers lurking in the dresser (Ron left the room hurriedly to make a cup of tea and did not return for an hour and a half). **

"You need to control that fear of yours laddie, you don't want it to control your life." Moody said. Ron nodded and blushed; he had no idea how that will happen.

**The china, which bore the Black crest and motto, was all thrown unceremoniously into a sack by Sirius, and the same fate met a set of old photographs in tarnished silver frames, all of whose occupants squealed shrilly as the glass covering them smashed.**

**Snape might refer to their work as 'cleaning', but in Cris' opinion they were really waging war on the house, which was putting up a very good fight, aided and abetted by Kreacher. The house-elf kept appearing wherever they were congregated, his muttering becoming more and more offensive as he attempted to remove anything he could from the rubbish sacks. Sirius went as far as to threaten him with clothes, but Kreacher fixed him with a watery stare and said, "Master must do as Master wishes," before turning away and muttering very loudly, "but Master will not turn Kreacher away, no, because Kreacher knows what they are up to, oh yes, he is plotting against the Dark Lord, yes, with these Mudbloods and traitors and scum…" At which Sirius, ignoring Hermione's protests, seized Kreacher by the back of his loincloth and threw him bodily from the room.**

**The doorbell rang several times a day, which was the cue for Sirius's mother to start shrieking again, and for Cris and the others to attempt to eavesdrop on the visitor, though they learned very little from the brief glimpses and snatches of conversation they were able to sneak before Mrs. Weasley recalled them to their tasks. Snape flitted in and out of the house several times more, though to Cris' relief they never came face to face; Cris also caught sight of her Transfiguration teacher Professor McGonagall, looking very odd in a Muggle dress and coat, and she also seemed too busy to linger. Sometimes, however, the visitors stayed to help. Tonks joined them for a memorable afternoon in which they found a murderous old ghoul lurking in an upstairs toilet, and Remus, who was staying in the house with Sirius but who left it for long periods to do mysterious work for the Order,**

"What am I doing?" Moony asked.

"Something only I can do." Remus said.

**helped them repair a grandfather clock that had developed the unpleasant habit of shooting heavy bolts at passers-by. Mundungus redeemed himself slightly in Mrs. Weasley's eyes by rescuing Ron from an ancient set of purple robes that had tried to strangle him when he removed them from their wardrobe. And around the time Remus showed up a woman who looked just like him appeared as well. She didn't have any scars but her sandy colored hair was down to her waist and Cris could see her amber colored eyes as she smiled at them before being called away by Sirius. **

Robin and Sirius blushed at that while the others snickered.

"**Robin Lupin, she's Lupin's twin sister." Fred said. **

"**I didn't know he had any siblings." Cris said staring after her. She was just like Cris dreamt of her two years ago. **

"**We think there is something going on between her and Sirius. They always disappear when she comes in." George said. Cris looked over at him horrified. **

"**I really don't want to picture my godfather doing that, thanks." Cris said. **

"Nobody does." Prongs said with a laugh.

"Oi!"

**Despite the fact that she was still sleeping badly, still having dreams about corridors and locked doors that made her scar prickle, Cris was managing to have fun for the second time all summer.**

"The first time being our shopping trip?" Gwen asked.

"Yep," Cris said.

**As long as she was busy she was happy; when the action abated, however, whenever she dropped her guard, or lay exhausted in bed watching blurred shadows move across the ceiling, the thought of the looming Ministry hearing returned to her. Fear jabbed at her insides like needles as she wondered what was going to happen to her if she was expelled. The idea was so terrible that she did not dare voice it aloud, not even to Ron and Hermione, who, though she often saw them whispering together and casting anxious looks in her direction, followed her lead in not mentioning it.**

"We knew that you didn't want to talk about it." Hermione said.

"Thanks Mia." Cris said with a smile.

**Sometimes, she could not prevent her imagination showing her a faceless Ministry official who was snapping her wand in two and ordering her back to the Dursley's… but she would not go. She was determined on that. She would come back here to Grimmauld Place and live with Sirius.**

**She felt as though a brick had dropped into her stomach when Mrs. Weasley turned to her during dinner on Wednesday evening and said quietly, "I've ironed your best clothes for tomorrow morning, Cris, and I want you to wash your hair tonight, too. A good first impression can work wonders."**

"That is very helpful." Gwen said.

**Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny all stopped talking and looked over at her. Cris nodded and tried to keep eating her chops, but her mouth had become so dry she could not chew.**

**"****How am I getting there?" she asked Mrs. Weasley, trying to sound unconcerned.**

**"****Arthur's taking you to work with him," said Mrs. Weasley gently.**

**Mr. Weasley smiled encouragingly at Cris across the table.**

**"****You can wait in my office until it's time for the hearing," he said.**

**Cris looked over at Sirius, but before she could ask the question, Mrs. Weasley had answered it.**

**"****Professor Dumbledore doesn't think it's a good idea for Sirius to go with you, and I must say I -"**

**"****Think he's quite right," said Sirius through clenched teeth.**

"I am sorry, I didn't want you to make a scene and get the kiss." Dumbledore said. Sirius nodded in appreciation.

**Mrs. Weasley pursed her lips.**

**"****When did Dumbledore tell you that?" Cris said, staring at Sirius.**

**"****He came last night, when you were in bed," said Mr. Weasley.**

**Sirius stabbed moodily at a potato with his fork. Cris lowered her own eyes to her plate. The thought that Dumbledore had been in the house on the eve of her hearing and not asked to see her made her feel, if it were possible, even worse. **

"Are you trying to avoid her?" Lily asked.

"Grandma, don't worry, it'll explain why." Lily J said. Lily looked at her granddaughter and nodded.

"That's the chapter." Fudge said. He handed the book to Umbridge and Cris couldn't but groan at the luck that the toad bitch got the chapter with her hearing in it.


	8. Chapter 7: The Ministry of Magic

"**Chapter 7: The Ministry of Magic," **Umbridge read.

"Is this your first time there?" Lily asked.

"Yep," Cris said.

"Not your last time either." Keiran said.

**Cris awoke at half past five the next morning as abruptly and completely as if somebody had yelled in her ear. For a few moments she lay immobile as the prospect of the disciplinary hearing filled every tiny particle of her brain, then, unable to bear it, she leapt out of bed and put on her contacts. Mrs. Weasley had laid out her freshly laundered jeans and T-shirt at the foot of her bed. Cris took them into the bathroom and changed. It was a dark blue blouse that Gwen had picked out and a pair of light blue jeans. Cris pulled her hair up into a ponytail and put in some green studs that matched her eye color. Cris had pierced her ears herself a few years ago and the green studs were a birthday present from Gwen. **

"That was nice of you." Lily said.

"Well I could let her keep those horrid earrings forever." Gwen said.

"They were cheap and turned my ears green." Cris said with a shiver.

"You were allergic to the metal then." Hermione said. "I have a problem with the silver plated ones."

"Why?" Remus asked.

"No clue, just some people are." Hermione said.

**Ron was lying sprawled on his back with his mouth wide open, fast asleep. He did not stir as Cris crossed the room grabbed her shoes and stepped out on to the landing and closed the door softly behind him. Trying not to think of the next time she would see Ron, when they might no longer be fellow students at Hogwarts, Cris walked quietly down the stairs, past the heads of Kreacher's ancestors, and down into the kitchen.**

**She had expected it to be empty, but when she reached the door she heard the soft rumble of voices on the other side. She pushed it open and saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Sirius, Remus and Tonks sitting there almost as though they were waiting for her. **

"We were." Sirius said.

**All were fully dressed except Mrs. Weasley, who was wearing a quilted purple dressing gown. She leapt to her feet the moment Cris entered.**

**"****Breakfast," she said as she pulled out her wand and hurried over to the fire.**

**"****M - m - morning, Cris," yawned Tonks. Her hair was blonde and curly this morning. "Sleep all right?"**

**"****Yeah," said Cris though her hair turned burnt orange.**

**"****I've b - b - been up all night," she said, with another shuddering yawn. "Come and sit down…"**

"That's not good for you." Lily said.

**She drew out a chair, knocking over the one beside it in the process.**

**"****What do you want, Cris?" Mrs. Weasley called. "Porridge? Muffins? Kippers? Bacon and eggs? Toast?"**

**"****Just - just toast, thanks," said Cris.**

**Remus glanced at Cris, then said to Tonks, "What were you saying about Scrimgeour?" **

"You know, you tend to eat toast when you're nervous." Lily said.

"If I eat anything else I'm afraid I might toss it back up." Cris said.

"Oh honey, everyone is like that." Lily said.

**"****Oh… yeah… well, we need to be a bit more careful, he's been asking Kingsley and me funny questions…"**

**Cris felt vaguely grateful that she was not required to join in the conversation. Her insides were squirming. Mrs. Weasley placed a couple of pieces of toast and marmalade in front of her; she tried to eat, but it was like chewing carpet. Mrs. Weasley sat down on her other side and started fussing with her blouse, tucking in the label and smoothing out the creases across her shoulders. She wished she wouldn't.**

"Sorry," Cris said.

"It's alright dear, I know you were nervous." Mrs. Weasley said.

**"… ****and I'll have to tell Dumbledore I can't do night duty tomorrow, I'm just too tired," Tonks finished, yawning hugely again.**

**"****I'll cover for you," said Mr. Weasley. "I'm okay; I've got a report to finish anyway."**

**Mr. Weasley was not wearing wizards' robes but a pair of pinstriped trousers and an old bomber jacket.**

"You and my dad should get together; he'll show you how to dress." Tonks said.

"That's great." Mr. Weasley said.

**He turned from Tonks to Cris.**

**"****How are you feeling?"**

**Cris shrugged.**

**"****It'll all be over soon," Mr. Weasley said bracingly. "In a few hours' time you'll be cleared."**

"You better be." Lily said.

"I'm sure there's nothing to worry about Lils." Prongs said.

**Cris said nothing.**

**"****The hearing's on my floor, in Amelia Bones' office. She's Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and the one who'll be questioning you."**

"Good, she's nice and will give you a fair trial." Padfoot said.

"I would have," Cris muttered.

**"Amelia Bones is okay, Cris," said Tonks earnestly. "She's fair, she'll hear you out."**

**Cris nodded, still unable to think of anything to say.**

**"****Don't lose your temper," said Sirius abruptly. "Be polite and stick to the facts."**

"Again with a advice, I'd never thought you would say that." Prongs said. Sirius mock glared at him and Umbridge continued.

**Cris nodded again.**

**"****The law's on your side," said Remus quietly. "Even underage wizards are allowed to use magic in life-threatening situations."**

**Something very cold trickled down the back of Cris' neck; for a moment she thought someone was putting a Disillusionment Charm on her, then she realized that Mrs. Weasley was attacking her hair with a wet comb. She pressed hard on the top of her head. It seems as though her hair decided to escape the ponytail and decided to go everywhere like usual. **

**"****Doesn't it ever lie flat?" she said desperately.**

**Cris shook her head.**

"Neither does my hair." James and Remus said.

"Ryker and Connor's are the same." Lily J said.

"Yours isn't though." Cris said.

"No, not really." Lily J said.

"You got mostly Weasley, though your hair is slightly darker than the Weasley red." Sirius said.

"And James' is a mix between the red and black." Remus said.

"Hem-hem," Umbridge said impatiently.

**Mr. Weasley checked his watch and looked up at Cris.**

**"****I think we'll go now," he said. "We're a bit early but I think you'll be better off at the Ministry than hanging around here." **

"Which was a very good thing." Cris said.

"Yes it was." Mr. Weasley agreed.

**"****Okay," said Cris automatically, dropping her toast and getting to her feet.**

**"****You'll be all right, Cris," said Tonks, patting her on the arm.**

**"****Good luck," said Remus. "I'm sure it will be fine."**

**"****And if it's not," said Sirius grimly, "I'll see to Amelia Bones for you…"**

"Sirius!" Robin said.

**Cris smiled weakly. Mrs. Weasley hugged her.**

**"****We've all got our fingers crossed," she said.**

**"****Right," said Cris. "Well… see you later then."**

**She followed Mr. Weasley upstairs and along the hall. She could hear Sirius's mother grunting in her sleep behind her curtains. Mr. Weasley unbolted the door and they stepped out into the cold, grey dawn.**

**"****You don't normally walk to work, do you?" Cris asked him, as they set off briskly around the square.**

**"****No, I usually Apparate," said Mr. Weasley, "but obviously you can't, and I think it's best we arrive in a thoroughly non-magical fashion… makes a better impression, given what you're being disciplined for…"**

Fudge looked down he didn't know she took the non-magical way to the hearing.

**Mr. Weasley kept his hand inside his jacket as they walked. Cris knew it was clenched around his wand. The run-down streets were almost deserted, but when they arrived at the miserable little underground station they found it already full of early-morning commuters. As ever when he found himself in close proximity to Muggles going about their daily business, Mr. Weasley was hard put to contain his enthusiasm.**

**"****Simply fabulous," he whispered, indicating the automatic ticket machines. "Wonderfully ingenious."**

"You need to be more careful Arthur." Remus said.

**"****They're out of order," said Cris, pointing at the sign.**

**"****Yes, but even so…" said Mr. Weasley, beaming at them fondly.**

**They bought their tickets instead from a sleepy-looking guard (Cris handled the transaction, as Mr. Weasley was not very good with Muggle money) **

"I can teach you if you would like." Gwen said. Mr. Weasley beamed at her and nodded vigorously. Gwen just chuckled at him.

**and five minutes later they were boarding an underground train that rattled them off towards the center of London. Mr. Weasley kept anxiously checking and re-checking the Underground Map above the windows.**

**"****Four more stops, Cris… Three stops left now… Two stops to go, Cris…"**

**They got off at a station in the very heart of London, and were swept from the train in a tide of be suited men and women carrying briefcases. Up the escalator they went, through the ticket barrier (Mr. Weasley delighted with the way the stile swallowed his ticket), and emerged on to a broad street lined with imposing-looking buildings and already full of traffic.**

**"****Where are we?" said Mr. Weasley blankly, and for one heart-stopping moment Cris thought they had got off at the wrong station despite Mr. Weasley's continual references to the map; but a second later he said, "Ah yes… this way, Cris," and led her down a side road.**

**"****Sorry," he said, "but I never come by train and it all looks rather different from a Muggle perspective. As a matter of fact, I've never even used the visitors' entrance before." **

"There's a visitor's entrance?" Gwen asked.

"Yep, it's nicely hidden as well." Cris said.

**The further they walked, the smaller and less imposing the buildings became, until finally they reached a street that contained several rather shabby-looking offices, a pub and an overflowing dumpster. Cris had expected a rather more impressive location for the Ministry of Magic. **

"Well we do have to be careful; we don't want Muggles to walk in unexpectedly." Kingsley said.

**"Here we are," said Mr. Weasley brightly, pointing at an old red telephone box, which was missing several panes of glass and stood before a heavily graffitied wall. "After you, Cris."**

**He opened the telephone-box door.**

**Cris stepped inside, wondering what on earth this was about. Mr. Weasley folded himself in beside Cris and closed the door. It was a tight fit; Cris was jammed against the telephone apparatus, which was hanging crookedly from the wall as though a vandal had tried to rip it off.**

"No, it just looks like that to keep unwanted visitors from coming." Tonks said.

**Mr. Weasley reached past Cris for the receiver.**

**"Mr. Weasley, I think this might be out of order, too," Cris said.**

**"No, no, I'm sure it's fine," said Mr. Weasley, holding the receiver above his head and peering at the dial. "Let's see… six…" he dialed the number, "two… four… and another four… and another two…"**

"That spells magic." Gwen said.

"What?" asked the pure-bloods.

"On a dial, there aren't just numbers, there are letters too. M is on the 6 A is on the 2 G is on the 4 as well as I and the C is on the 2." Cris said.

"Cool," Ron said.

**As the dial whirred smoothly back into place, a cool female voice sounded inside the telephone box, not from the receiver in Mr. Weasley's hand, but as loudly and plainly as though an invisible woman were standing right beside them.**

**"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."**

**"Er…" said Mr. Weasley, clearly uncertain whether or not he should talk into the receiver. He compromised by holding the mouthpiece to his ear,**

"Other way around." Gwen said.

"It works either way." Tonks said.

"Cool."

**"Arthur Weasley, Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, here to escort Cristal Potter, who has been asked to attend a disciplinary hearing…"**

**"Thank you," said the cool female voice. "Visitor, please take the badge and attach it to the front of your robes."**

**There was a click and a rattle, and Cris saw something slide out of the metal chute where returned coins usually appeared. She picked it up: it was a square silver badge with Cristal Potter, Disciplinary Hearing on it. She pinned it to the front of her blouse as the female voice spoke again.**

**"Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."**

**The floor of the telephone box shuddered. They were sinking slowly into the ground. Cris watched apprehensively as the pavement seemed to rise up past the glass windows of the telephone box until darkness closed over their heads. Then she could see nothing at all; she could hear only a dull grinding noise as the telephone box made its way down through the earth. After about a minute, though it felt much longer to Cris, a chink of golden light illuminated her feet and, widening, rose up her body, until it hit her in the face and she had to blink to stop her eyes from watering.**

**"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day," said the woman's voice.**

"That kind of sounds automatic." Gwen said.

"I think it is." Tonks said.

**The door of the telephone box sprang open and Mr. Weasley stepped out of it, followed by Cris, whose mouth had fallen open.**

"It is a little awstrucking at first." Keiran said.

**They were standing at one end of a very long and splendid hall with a highly polished, dark wood floor. The peacock blue ceiling was inlaid with gleaming golden symbols that kept moving and changing like some enormous heavenly notice board. The walls on each side were paneled in shiny dark wood and had many gilded fireplaces set into them. Every few seconds a witch or wizard would emerge from one of the left-hand fireplaces with a soft whoosh. On the right-hand side, short queues of wizards were forming before each fireplace, waiting to depart.**

**Halfway down the hall was a fountain. A group of golden statues, larger than life-size, stood in the middle of a circular pool. Tallest of them all was a noble-looking wizard with his wand pointing straight up in the air. Grouped around him were a beautiful witch, a centaur, a goblin and a house-elf. The last three were all looking adoringly up at the witch and wizard. **

"That's not there now." Scarlett said.

"What is there now?" Percy asked.

"A simple memorial pillar, it has the names of those taken in both wars." Keiran said.

"What happened to this statue?" Fudge asked.

"It was destroyed." Teddy said. "I don't know how."

**Glittering jets of water were flying from the ends of their wands, the point of the centaur's arrow, the tip of the goblins hat and each of the house-elf's ears, so that the tinkling hiss of falling water was added to the pops and cracks of the Apparators and the clatter of footsteps as hundreds of witches and wizards, most of whom were wearing glum, early-morning looks, strode towards a set of golden gates at the far end of the hall.**

**"This way," said Mr. Weasley.**

**They joined the throng, wending their way between the Ministry workers, some of whom were carrying tottering piles of parchment, others battered briefcases; still others were reading the Daily Prophet while they walked. As they passed the fountain Cris saw silver Sickles and bronze Knuts glinting up at her from the bottom of the pool. A small smudged sign beside it read:**

**ALL PROCEEDS FROM THE FOUNTAIN OF MAGICAL BRETHREN WILL BE GIVEN TO ST. MUNGO'S HOSPITAL FOR MAGICAL MALADIES AND INJURIES.**

**If I'm not expelled from Hogwarts, I'll put in ten Galleons, Cris found herself thinking desperately. **

"That would help a lot." Dumbledore said.

"How much did you put in there?" Neville asked.

"All the coins I had on me." Cris said.

"You emptied that bag?" Ron asked. Cris nodded and Neville jumped up and hugged her and he was crying.

"Thank you," Neville said. Cris smiled and hugged him back. Neville let go and went back to his seat.

**"Over here, Cris," said Mr. Weasley, and they stepped out of the stream of Ministry employees heading for the golden gates. Seated at a desk to the left, beneath a sign saying Security, a badly shaven wizard in peacock blue robes looked up as they approached and put down his Daily Prophet.**

**"I'm escorting a visitor," said Mr. Weasley, gesturing towards Cris.**

**"Step over here," said the wizard in a bored voice.**

**Cris walked closer to him and the wizard held up a long golden rod, thin and flexible as a car aerial, and passed it up and down Cris' front and back.**

"Like Airport security." Gwen said.

"That's what I was just thinking." Hermione said.

**"Wand," grunted the security wizard at Cris, putting down the golden instrument and holding out his hand.**

**Cris produced her wand. The wizard dropped it on to a strange brass instrument, which looked something like a set of scales with only one dish. It began to vibrate. A narrow strip of parchment came speeding out of a slit in the base. The wizard tore this off and read the writing on it.**

**"Eleven inches, phoenix-feather core, been in use four years. That correct?"**

**"Yes," said Cris nervously.**

**"I keep this," said the wizard, impaling the slip of parchment on a small brass spike. "You get this back," he added, thrusting the wand at Cris.**

**"Thank you."**

**"Hang on…" said the wizard slowly.**

**His eyes had darted from the silver visitors badge on Cris' chest to her forehead. The scar was only half hidden behind her bangs. **

"So kind of like now." Padfoot said. Cris' bangs were now longer but they swept to the side. She was going to ask Lavender to trim her bangs once again.

**"Thank you, Eric," said Mr. Weasley firmly, and grasping Cris by the shoulder he steered her away from the desk and back into the stream of wizards and witches walking through the golden gates.**

**Jostled slightly by the crowd, Cris followed Mr. Weasley through the gates into the smaller hall beyond, where at least twenty lifts stood behind wrought golden grilles. Cris and Mr. Weasley joined the crowd around one of them. Nearby, stood a big bearded wizard holding a large cardboard box which was emitting rasping noises.**

**"All right, Arthur?" said the wizard, nodding at Mr. Weasley.**

**"What've you got there, Bob?" asked Mr. Weasley, looking at the box.**

**"We're not sure," said the wizard seriously. "We thought it was a bog-standard chicken until it started breathing fire. Looks like a serious breach of the Ban on Experimental Breeding to me."**

"Sounds like something Hagrid would breed." Charlie said.

"Yeah, it does sound like that." Cris said.

**With a great jangling and clattering a lift descended in front of them; the golden grille slid back and Cris and Mr. Weasley stepped into the lift with the rest of the crowd and Cris found herself jammed against the back wall. Several witches and wizards were looking at her curiously; she stared at her feet to avoid catching anyone's eye, flattening her fringe as she did so.**

**The grilles slid shut with a crash and the lift ascended slowly, chains rattling, while the same cool female voice Cris had heard in the telephone box rang out again.**

**"Level Seven, Department of Magical Games and Sports, incorporating the British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters, Official Gobstones Club and Ludicrous Patents Office."**

"Do those actually exist?" Gwen asked.

"Yep," Tonks said.

**The lift doors opened. Cris glimpsed an untidy-looking corridor, with various posters of Quidditch teams tacked lopsidedly on the walls. One of the wizards in the lift, who was carrying an armful of broomsticks, extricated himself with difficulty and disappeared down the corridor.**

**The doors closed, the lift juddered upwards again and the woman's voice announced:**

**"Level Six, Department of Magical Transportation, incorporating the Floo Network Authority, Broom Regulatory Control, Portkey Office and Apparation Test Center."**

**Once again the lift doors opened and four or five witches and wizards got out; at the same time, several paper aeroplanes swooped into the lift. Cris stared up at them as they flapped idly around above her head; they were a pale violet color and she could see Ministry of Magic stamped along the edge of their wings.**

**"Just inter-departmental memos," Mr. Weasley muttered to her. "We used to use owls, but the mess was unbelievable… droppings all over the desks…"**

"I remember that." Sirius said.

"It was a disaster." Mr. Weasley said.

**As they clattered upwards again the memos flapped around the lamp swaying from the lift's ceiling.**

**"Level Five, Department of International Magical Co -operation, incorporating the International Magical Trading Standards Body, the International Magical Office of Law and the International Confederation of Wizards, British Seats."**

**When the doors opened, two of the memos zoomed out with a few more of the witches and wizards, but several more memos zoomed in, so that the light from the lamp flickered and flashed overhead as they darted around it.**

**"Level Four, Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, incorporating Beast, Being and Spirit Divisions, Goblin Liaison Office and Pest Advisory Bureau."**

Remus and Moony glared at the book at that.

**"S'cuse," said the wizard carrying the fire-breathing chicken and he left the lift pursued by a little flock of memos. The doors clanged shut yet again.**

**"Level Three, Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, including the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, Obliviator Headquarters and Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee."**

"That floor is a bit crazy at times." Tonks said.

"I can imagine." Lily said.

**Everybody left the lift on this floor except Mr. Weasley, Cris and a witch who was reading an extremely long piece of parchment that was trailing on the floor. The remaining memos continued to soar around the lamp as the lift juddered upwards again, then the doors opened and the voice made its announcement.**

**"Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters and Wizengamot Administration Services."**

**"This is us, Cris," said Mr. Weasley, and they followed the witch out of the lift into a corridor lined with doors. "My office is on the other side of the floor."**

**"Mr. Weasley" said Cris, as they passed a window through which sunlight was streaming, "aren't we still underground?"**

**"Yes, we are," said Mr. Weasley. "Those are enchanted windows. Magical Maintenance decide what weather we'll get every day. We had two months of hurricanes last time they were angling for a pay rise…**

"I can understand that, I can't imagine not being able to see the sun." Gwen said.

**Just round here, Cris."**

**They turned a corner, walked through a pair of heavy oak doors and emerged in a cluttered open area divided into cubicles, which was buzzing with talk and laughter. Memos were zooming in and out of cubicles like miniature rockets. A lopsided sign on the nearest cubicle read: Auror Headquarters.**

**Cris looked surreptitiously through the doorways as they passed. The Aurors had covered their cubicle walls with everything from pictures of wanted wizards and photographs of their families, to posters of their favorite Quidditch teams and articles from the Daily Prophet. A scarlet-robed man with a ponytail longer than Bill's was sitting with his boots up on his desk, dictating a report to his quill. A little further along, a witch with a patch over one eye was talking over the top of her cubicle wall to Kingsley Shacklebolt.**

**"Morning, Weasley," said Kingsley carelessly, as they drew nearer. "I've been wanting a word with you, have you got a second?"**

**"Yes, if it really is a second," said Mr. Weasley, "I'm in rather a hurry."**

**They were talking as though they hardly knew each other and when Cris opened her mouth to say hello to Kingsley, Mr. Weasley stood on her foot. **

"Ah, you didn't know that you were supposed to be on the down low." Kingsley said.

"Yeah, and that did hurt Mr. Weasley." Cris said.

"Sorry Cris, I should have warned you before we got into the office." Mr. Weasley said.

**They followed Kingsley along the row and into the very last cubicle.**

**Cris received a slight shock; blinking down at her from every direction was Sirius's face.**

"I didn't know you felt that way about me, Kings." Sirius said. Kingsley gave him a look that shut him up.

**Newspaper cuttings and old photographs - even the one of Sirius being best man at the Potters' wedding -papered the walls. The only Sirius-free space was a map of the world in which little red pins were glowing like jewels.**

**"Here," said Kingsley brusquely to Mr. Weasley, shoving a sheaf of parchment into his hand. "I need as much information as possible on flying Muggle vehicles sighted in the last twelve months. We've received information that Black might still be using his old motorcycle."**

"Hagrid has that, I think any way, I did lend it to him." Sirius said.

"It is in the shed at the Burrow." Mr. Weasley said. Sirius smiled at him and Umbridge continued reading.

**Kingsley tipped Cris an enormous wink and added, in a whisper, "Give him the magazine, he might find it interesting." Then he said in normal tones, "And don't take too long, Weasley, the delay on that firelegs report held our investigation up for a month."**

**"If you had read my report you would know that the term is firearms," said Mr. Weasley coolly.**

**"And I'm afraid you'll have to wait for information on motorcycles; we're extremely busy at the moment." He dropped his voice and said, "If you can get away before seven, Molly's making meatballs."**

"Those were really good." Cris said.

"So who's the better cook; Mrs. Weasley or my mum?" Gwen asked with a grin.

"That's a loaded question Gwen. Your mum is a professional chef." Cris said.

"Exactly, you're cooking is almost as good as my mums." Gwen said.

"Thank you dear." Mrs. Weasley said with a smile.

**He beckoned to Cris and led her out of Kingsley's cubicle, through a second set of oak doors, into another passage, turned left, marched along another corridor, turned right into a dimly lit and distinctly shabby corridor, and finally reached a dead end, where a door on the left stood ajar, revealing a broom cupboard, and a door on the right bore a tarnished brass plaque reading:**

**Misuse of Muggle Artifacts.**

**Mr. Weasley's dingy office seemed to be slightly smaller than the broom cupboard.**

"It's a lot bigger know, there a quite a few people working in that office." Al said.

"That's good," Mrs. Weasley said.

**Two desks had been crammed inside it and there was barely space to move around them because of all the overflowing filing cabinets lining the walls, on top of which were tottering piles of files. The little wall space available bore witness to Mr. Weasley's obsessions: several posters of cars, including one of a dismantled engine; two illustrations of postboxes he seemed to have cut out of Muggle children's books; and a diagram showing how to wire a plug.**

**Sitting on top of Mr. Weasley's overflowing in-tray was an old toaster that was hiccoughing in a disconsolate way and a pair of empty leather gloves that were twiddling their thumbs. A photograph of the Weasley family stood beside the in-tray. Cris noticed that Percy appeared to have walked out of it.**

Percy looked down how could he have been stupid.

**"We haven't got a window," said Mr. Weasley apologetically, taking off his bomber jacket and placing it on the back of his chair. "We've asked, but they don't seem to think we need one. Have a seat, Cris, doesn't look as if Perkins is in yet."**

**Cris squeezed herself into the chair behind Perkins's desk while Mr. Weasley riffled through the sheaf of parchment Kingsley Shacklebolt had given him.**

**"Ah," he said, grinning, as he extracted a copy of a magazine entitled The Quibbler from its midst, **

**"yes…" He flicked through it. "Yes, he's right, I'm sure Sirius will find that very amusing - oh dear, what's this now?"**

"That was funny." Sirius said.

"What was it?" Padfoot asked.

"Before you say anything Sirius, I read it on the train, so you don't have to say it yet." Cris said. Sirius smiled, that article gave him a laugh.

**A memo had just zoomed in through the open door and fluttered to rest on top of the hiccoughing toaster. Mr. Weasley unfolded it and read it aloud.**

**"'Third regurgitating public toilet reported in Bethnal Green, kindly investigate immediately.' This is getting ridiculous…"**

**"A regurgitating toilet?"**

**"Anti-Muggle pranksters," said Mr. Weasley, frowning. "We had two last week, one in Wimbledon, one in Elephant and Castle. Muggles are pulling the flush and instead of everything disappearing - well, you can imagine. **

"So it's worse than an overflowing one?" Gwen asked. Mr. Weasley nodded and Umbridge continued.

**The poor things keep calling in those - pumbles, I think they're called - you know, the ones who mend pipes and things." **

"Plumbers," Gwen said.

**"Plumbers?"**

**"Exactly, yes, but of course they're flummoxed. I only hope we can catch whoever's doing it."**

**"Will it be Aurors who catch them?"**

"No, it's not that big." Tonks said.

"So it's the different levels of crime of each department?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah," Sirius said.

**"Oh no, this is too trivial for Aurors, it'll be the ordinary Magical Law Enforcement Patrol - ah, Cros, this is Perkins."**

**A stooped, timid-looking old wizard with fluffy white hair had just entered the room, panting.**

**"Oh, Arthur!" he said desperately, without looking at Cris. "Thank goodness, I didn't know what to do for the best, whether to wait here for you or not. I've just sent an owl to your home but you've obviously missed it - an urgent message came ten minutes ago -"**

**"I know about the regurgitating toilet," said Mr. Weasley.**

**"No, no, it's not the toilet, it's the Potter girl's hearing - they've changed the time and venue - it starts at eight o'clock now and it's down in old Courtroom Ten -" **

"What!" Lily shouted.

"What possessed you to have it down there? That's for major stuff, like Death Eaters, not for something like underage magic." Prongs shouted.

**"Down in old - but they told me - Merlin's beard!"**

**Mr. Weasley looked at his watch, let out a yelp and leapt from his chair.**

**"Quick, Cris, we should have been there five minutes ago!"**

"What the hell!" Padfoot said.

"Are you trying to make her look bad?" Moony asked.

**Perkins flattened himself against the filing cabinets as Mr. Weasley left the office at a run, Cris close on his heels.**

**"Why have they changed the time?" Cris said breathlessly, as they hurtled past the Auror cubicles; people poked out their heads and stared as they streaked past. Cris felt as though she'd left all her insides back at Perkins's desk.**

**"I've no idea, but thank goodness we got here so early, if you'd missed it, it would have been catastrophic!"**

"I think that's what they were hoping for." Hermione said.

"You think?" Cris asked. She had figured that out already.

**Mr. Weasley skidded to a halt beside the lifts and jabbed impatiently at the 'down' button.**

**"Come ON!"**

"Yelling won't make things go faster." Gwen said.

**The lift clattered into view and they hurried inside. Every time it stopped Mr. Weasley cursed furiously and pummeled the number nine button.**

**"Those courtrooms haven't been used in years," said Mr. Weasley angrily. "I can't think why they're doing it down there - unless - but no -"**

**A plump witch carrying a smoking goblet entered the lift at that moment, and Mr. Weasley did not elaborate.**

**"The Atrium," said the cool female voice and the golden grilles slid open, showing Cris a distant glimpse of the golden statues in the fountain. The plump witch got out and a sallow skinned wizard with a very mournful face got in.**

**"Morning, Arthur," he said in a sepulchral voice as the lift began to descend. "Don't often see you down here."**

"Well I rarely have to go down there." Mr. Weasley said.

**"Urgent business, Bode," said Mr. Weasley, who was bouncing on the balls of his feet and throwing anxious looks over at Cris.**

**"Ah, yes," said Bode, surveying Cris unblinkingly. "Of course."**

**Cris barely had emotion to spare for Bode, but his unfaltering gaze did not make her feel any more comfortable.**

**"Department of Mysteries," said the cool female voice, and left it at that.**

"Well it is a mystery." Charlie said.

**"Quick, Cris," said Mr. Weasley as the lift doors rattled open, and they sped up a corridor that was quite different from those above. The walls were bare; there were no windows and no doors apart from a plain black one set at the very end of the corridor. Cris expected them to go through it, **

"You don't want to go through there." Tonks said. Keiran looked at his sister, Cris didn't want to go in there either.

**but instead Mr. Weasley seized her by the arm and dragged her to the left, where there was an opening leading to a flight of steps.**

**"Down here, down here," panted Mr. Weasley, taking two steps at a time. "The lift doesn't even come down this far… why they're doing it down there I…"**

**They reached the bottom of the steps and ran along yet another corridor, which bore a great resemblance to the one that led to Snape's dungeon at Hogwarts, with rough stone walls and torches in brackets. The doors they passed here were heavy wooden ones with iron bolts and keyholes.**

**"Courtroom… Ten… I think… we're nearly… yes."**

**Mr. Weasley stumbled to a halt outside a grimy dark door with an immense iron lock and slumped against the wall, clutching at a stitch in his chest.**

**"Go on," he panted, pointing his thumb at the door. "Get in there."**

**"Aren't - aren't you coming with -"**

"It would have made me feel so much better." Cris said.

"I'm sorry Cris." Mr. Weasley said.

**"No, no, I'm not allowed. Good luck!"**

**Cris' heart was beating a violent tattoo against her chest. She swallowed hard, turned the heavy iron door handle and stepped inside the courtroom.**

"That's the chapter." Umbridge said in her sickly sweet voice. Dumbledore took the book from her and started the next chapter.


	9. Chapter 8: The Hearing

"**Chapter 8: The Hearing," **Dumbledore read.

"Let's get this over with." Lily said. She really wanted to get the hearing over it.

**Cris gasped; she could not help herself. The large dungeon she had entered was horribly familiar. She had not only seen it before, she had been here before. This was the place she had visited inside Dumbledore's Pensieve, the place where she had watched the Lestrange's sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban. **

"It wasn't the same one, they all look the same." Mr. Weasley said.

**The walls were made of dark stone, dimly lit by torches. Empty benches rose on either side of her, but ahead, in the highest benches of all, were many shadowy figures. They had been talking in low voices, but as the heavy door swung closed behind Cris an ominous silence fell.**

**A cold male voice rang across the courtroom.**

**"You're late."**

"And it was your fault. You wanted her to be late." Sirius said glaring at the Minster.

**"Sorry," said Cris nervously "I — I didn't know the time had been changed."**

**"That is not the Wizengamot's fault," said the voice. "An owl was sent to you this morning. Take your seat."**

"Yeah, fifteen minutes before the hearing isn't sufficient time." Remus said with a growl.

"Fifteen minutes!" Lily shrieked.

**Cris dropped her gaze to the chair in the center of the room, the arms of which were covered in chains. She had seen those chains spring to life and bind whoever sat between them. Her footsteps echoed loudly as she walked across the stone floor. When she sat gingerly on the edge of the chair the chains clinked threateningly, but did not bind her.**

"Good, I would have personally gone after him if they did." Sirius said.

**Feeling rather sick, she looked up at the people seated at the bench above.**

**There were about fifty of them, all, as far as she could see, wearing plum-colored robes with an elaborately worked silver W on the left-hand side of the chest and all staring down their noses at her, some with very austere expressions, others looks of frank curiosity.**

**In the very middle of the front row sat Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic. Fudge was a portly man who often sported a lime-green bowler hat, though today he had dispensed with it; he had dispensed, too, with the indulgent smile he had once worn when he spoke to Cris. A broad, square-jawed witch with very short grey hair sat on Fudge's left; she wore a monocle and looked forbidding.**

"No, that's just Amelia, she'll treat you fairly." Robin said.

**On Fudge's right was another witch, but she was sitting so far back on the bench that her face was in shadow.**

**"Very well," said Fudge. "The accused being present - finally - let us begin. Are you ready?" he called down the row.**

**"Yes, sir," said an eager voice Cris knew. Ron's brother Percy was sitting at the very end of the front bench. Cris looked at Percy, expecting some sign of recognition from him, but none came. Percy's eyes, behind his horn-rimmed glasses, were fixed on his parchment, a quill poised in his hand.**

Percy looked down he could have at least gave her a small smile for support now that he thought about it.

**"Disciplinary hearing of the twelfth of August," said Fudge in a ringing voice, and Percy began taking notes at once, "into offenses committed under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and the International Statute of Secrecy by Cristal Rose Potter, resident at number four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey.**

**"Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister.**

Growls were heard at that and Cris clenched her hand were the scars were.

**Court Scribe, Percy Ignatius Weasley -" **

Many of Percy siblings glared at the book for that.

**"Witness for the defense, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore," said a quiet voice from behind Cris, who turned her head so fast she cricked her neck.**

"At least Dumbledore's there." Lily muttered.

**Dumbledore was striding serenely across the room wearing long midnight-blue robes and a perfectly calm expression. His long silver beard and hair gleamed in the torchlight as he drew level with Cris and looked up at Fudge through the half-moon spectacles that rested halfway down his very crooked nose.**

**The members of the Wizengamot were muttering. All eyes were now on Dumbledore. Some looked annoyed, others slightly frightened; two elderly witches in the back row, however, raised their hands and waved in welcome.**

"Well at least not everyone hates you." Robin said.

**A powerful emotion had risen in Cris' chest at the sight of Dumbledore, a fortified, hopeful feeling rather like that which phoenix song gave her. She wanted to catch Dumbledore's eye, but Dumbledore was not looking her way; he was continuing to look up at the obviously flustered Fudge.**

**"Ah," said Fudge, who looked thoroughly disconcerted. "Dumbledore. Yes. You - er - got our – er - message that the time and -er - place of the hearing had been changed, then?" **

"Or maybe the change was to keep Dumbledore away." Hermione whispered.

"Could be." Ron said with a shrug.

**"I must have missed it," said Dumbledore cheerfully…"However, due to a lucky mistake I arrived at the Ministry three hours early, so no harm done."**

**"Yes - well - I suppose we'll need another chair - I - Weasley, could you -?"**

**"Not to worry, not to worry," said Dumbledore pleasantly; he took out his wand, gave it a little flick, and a squashy chintz armchair appeared out of nowhere next to Cris. Dumbledore sat down, put the tips of his long fingers together and surveyed Fudge over them with an expression of polite interest. The Wizengamot was still muttering and fidgeting restlessly; only when Fudge spoke again did they settle down.**

**"Yes," said Fudge again, shuffling his notes. "Well, then. So. The charges. Yes."**

"Good, he's nervous." Padfoot said.

"She'll be cleared; we can defend ourselves if needed." Moony said.

**He extricated a piece of parchment from the pile before him, took a deep breath, and read out, "the charges against the accused are as follows: That she did knowingly, deliberately and in full awareness of the illegality of her actions, having received a previous written warning from the Ministry of Magic on a similar charge, produce a Patronus Charm in a Muggle-inhabited area, in the presence of a Muggle,**

"A Muggle who knows about magic. You should really keep track of that." Hermione said.

**on the second of August at twenty-three minutes past nine, which constitutes an offence under Paragraph C of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, and also under Section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy.**

**"You are Cristal Rose Potter, of number four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey?" Fudge said, glaring at Cris over the top of his parchment.**

**"Yes," Cris said.**

**"You received an official warning from the Ministry for using illegal magic three years ago, did you not?"**

**"Yes, but -"**

**"And yet you conjured a Patronus on the night of the second of August?" said Fudge.**

**"Yes," said Cris, "but -"**

**"Knowing that you are not permitted to use magic outside school while you are under the age of seventeen?"**

**"Yes, but -"**

"Good grief, let her explain. If you don't she'll yell it out for everyone to hear." Remus said.

"She needs to have the chance to defend herself." Lily said glaring at Fudge.

**"Knowing that you were in an area full of Muggles?"**

**"Yes, but -"**

**"Fully aware that you were in close proximity to a Muggle at the time?"**

**"Yes," said Cris angrily, "but I only used it because we were -"**

**The witch with the monocle cut across her in a booming voice.**

**"You produced a fully-fledged Patronus?"**

"She's impressed not many fifteen year old witches or wizards can produce a fully-fledged Patronus." Tonks said. Cris blushed at that.

**"Yes," said Cris, "because -"**

**"A corporeal Patronus?"**

**"A - what?" said Cris.**

**"Your Patronus had a clearly defined form? I mean to say, it was more than vapor or smoke?"**

**"Yes," said Cris, feeling both impatient and slightly desperate, "it's a stag, it's always a stag."**

"Just like me." Prongs said with a smile.

**"Always?" boomed Madam Bones. "You have produced a Patronus before now?"**

"Now she's really impressed." Kingsley said.

**"Yes," said Cris, "I've been doing it for over a year."**

**"And you are fifteen years old?"**

**"Yes, and -"**

**"You learned this at school?"**

**"Yes, Professor Lupin taught me in my third year, because of the -"**

"And you put in a good word for Remus too." Robin said with a smile.

**"Impressive," said Madam Bones, staring down at her, "a true Patronus at her age… very impressive indeed."**

**Some of the wizards and witches around her were muttering again; a few nodded, but others were frowning and shaking their heads.**

"The nodders are probably on your side." Charlie said.

**"It's not a question of how impressive the magic was," said Fudge in a testy voice, "in fact, the more impressive the worse it is, I would have thought, given that the girl did it in plain view of a Muggle!"**

"Who is related to her, they share a house and has seen magic before." Ginny said glaring at the Minister. Fudge winced; he only knew it was in front of a Muggle.

**Those who had been frowning now murmured in agreement, but it was the sight of Percy's sanctimonious little nod that goaded Cris into speech.**

**"I did it because of the Dementors!" she said loudly, before anyone could interrupt her again. She had expected more muttering, but the silence that fell seemed to be somehow denser than before.**

"Percy, you should have known that Dudley knew about magic." Charlie said. Percy blushed, he should have told them.

**"Dementors?" said Madam Bones after a moment, her thick eyebrows rising until her monocle looked in danger of falling out. "What do you mean, girl?"**

"Exactly what it sounds like." Lily said.

**"I mean there were two Dementors down that alleyway and they went for me and my cousin!"**

**"Ah," said Fudge again, smirking unpleasantly as he looked around at the Wizengamot, as though inviting them to share the joke. "Yes. Yes, I thought we'd be hearing something like this."**

"You think she would lie about this?" Lily asked looking furious at the minister.

"Would you rather her not defend herself then you would have dealt with the fury of your readers that you left Cris unprotected as the dementors took her soul." Moony said almost shouting.

**"Dementors in Little Whinging?" Madam Bones said, in a tone of great surprise. "I don't understand -"**

**"Don't you, Amelia?" said Fudge, still smirking. "Let me explain.****She's been thinking it through and decided Dementors would make a very nice little cover story, very nice indeed. Muggles can't see Dementors, can they, girl? Highly convenient, highly convenient… so it's just your word and no witnesses…" **

"Or is there?" Bill said with a smirk.

**"I'm not lying!" said Cris loudly her hair turning red in anger, over another outbreak of muttering from the court. "There were two of them, coming from opposite ends of the alley, everything went dark and cold and my cousin felt them and ran for it -"**

**"Enough, enough!" said Fudge, with a very supercilious look on his face. "I'm sorry to interrupt what I'm sure would have been a very well-rehearsed story -"**

"It is possible for it to happen, as it did happen." Gwen said dangerously.

**Dumbledore cleared his throat. The Wizengamot fell silent again.**

**"We do, in fact, have a witness to the presence of Dementors in that alleyway," he said, "other than Dudley Dursley, I mean."**

"Mrs. Figg?" Lily asked.

"She can see them, if Filch can she can." Padfoot said.

**Fudge's plump face seemed to slacken, as though somebody had let air out of it. He stared down at Dumbledore for a moment or two, then, with the appearance of a man pulling himself back together, said, "We haven't got time to listen to more tarradiddles, I'm afraid, Dumbledore. I want this dealt with quickly -"**

"Oh yes, then you shouldn't have tried her in front of the whole court." Lily said.

**"I may be wrong," said Dumbledore pleasantly, "but I am sure that under the Wizengamot Charter of Rights, the accused has the right to present witnesses for his or her case? Isn't that the policy of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Madam Bones?" he continued, addressing the witch in the monocle.**

**"True," said Madam Bones. "Perfectly true."**

**"Oh, very well, very well," snapped Fudge. "Where is this person?"**

**"I brought her with me," said Dumbledore. "She's just outside the door. Should I -?"**

"You're Dumbledore; of course you brought her with you." Robin said.

**"No — Weasley, you go," Fudge barked at Percy, who got up at once, ran down the stone steps from the judge's balcony and hurried past Dumbledore and Cris without glancing at them.**

**A moment later, Percy returned, followed by Mrs. Figg. She looked scared and more batty than ever. Cris wished she had thought to change out of her carpet slippers.**

**Dumbledore stood up and gave Mrs. Figg his chair, conjuring a second one for himself.**

**"Full name?" said Fudge loudly, when Mrs. Figg had perched herself nervously on the very edge of her seat.**

**"Arabella Doreen Figg," said Mrs. Figg in her quavery voice. **

"Now, I didn't know her middle name." Sirius said.

"Now you do, now shush it." Robin said.

**"And who exactly are you?" said Fudge, in a bored and lofty voice.**

**"I'm a resident of Little Whinging, close to where Cristal Potter lives," said Mrs. Figg.**

**"We have no record of any witch or wizard living in Little Whinging, other than Cristal Potter," said Madam Bones at once. "That situation has always been closely monitored, given… given past events."**

**"I'm a Squib," said Mrs. Figg. "So you wouldn't have me registered, would you?"**

"They should be." Hermione muttered.

"But many don't want to be." Charlie said having heard her.

**"A Squib, eh?" said Fudge, eyeing her closely. "We'll be checking that. You'll leave details of your parentage with my assistant Weasley. Incidentally, can Squibs see Dementors?" he added, looking left and right along the bench.**

**"Yes, we can!" said Mrs. Figg indignantly.**

**Fudge looked back down at her, his eyebrows raised. "Very well," he said aloofly. "What is your story?"**

**"I had gone out to buy cat food from the corner shop at the end of Wisteria Walk, around about nine o'clock, on the evening of the second of August,"**

**gabbled Mrs. Figg at once, as though she had learned what she was saying by heart, "when I heard a disturbance down the alleyway between Magnolia Crescent and Wisteria Walk. On approaching the mouth of the alleyway I saw Dementors running -"**

"No, don't say that." Lily groaned.

"It's an easy mistake to make when you're retelling a story." Gwen said.

"True, but still." Robin said.

**"Running?" said Madam Bones sharply. "Dementors don't run, they glide."**

**"That's what I meant to say," said Mrs. Figg quickly, patches of pink appearing in her withered cheeks. "Gliding along the alley towards what looked like two kids."**

**"What did they look like?" said Madam Bones, narrowing her eyes so that the edge of the monocle disappeared into her flesh.**

**"Well, one was very large and the other one rather skinny -"**

"She meant the Dementors." Bill said.

**"No, no," said Madam Bones impatiently. "The Dementors… describe them."**

**"Oh," said Mrs. Figg, the pink flush creeping up her neck now. "They were big. Big and wearing cloaks."**

**Cris felt a horrible sinking in the pit of her stomach. Whatever Mrs. Figg might say, it sounded to her as though the most she had ever seen was a picture of a Dementor, and a picture could never convey the truth of what these beings were like: the eerie way they moved, hovering inches over the ground; or the rotting smell of them; or that terrible rattling noise they made as they sucked on the surrounding air…**

**In the second row, a dumpy wizard with a large black moustache leaned close to whisper in the ear of his neighbor, a frizzy-haired witch. She smirked and nodded.**

**"Big and wearing cloaks," repeated Madam Bones coolly, while Fudge snorted derisively. "I see. Anything else?"**

**"Yes," said Mrs. Figg. "I felt them. Everything went cold, and this was a very warm summer's night, mark you. And I felt… as though all happiness had gone from the world… and I remembered… dreadful things…"**

"Well that's accurate; no one can fake how that feels." Sirius said. He shivered at the thought, though it's been two years but no one could forget that feeling.

**Her voice shook and died.**

**Madam Bones' eyes widened slightly. Cris could see red marks under her eyebrow where the monocle had dug into it.**

**"What did the Dementors do?" she asked, and Cris felt a rush of hope.**

"Good," Lily said.

**"They went for the kids," said Mrs. Figg, her voice stronger and more confident now, the pink flush ebbing away from her face. "One of them had fallen. The other was backing away, trying to repel the Dementor. That was Cris. She tried twice and produced only silver vapor. On the third attempt, she produced a Patronus, which charged down the first Dementor and then, with her encouragement, chased the second one away from her cousin. And that that is what happened," Mrs. Figg finished, somewhat lamely.**

**Madam Bones looked down at Mrs. Figg in silence. Fudge was not looking at her at all, but fidgeting with his papers. Finally, he raised his eyes and said, rather aggressively, "That's what you saw, is it?"**

**"That is what happened," Mrs. Figg repeated.**

**"Very well," said Fudge. "You may go."**

**Mrs. Figg cast a frightened look from Fudge to Dumbledore, then got up and shuffled off towards the door. Cris heard it thud shut behind her.**

**"Not a very convincing witness," said Fudge loftily.**

"That's just because you're prejudice." Bill said under his breath.

**"Oh, I don't know," said Madam Bones, in her booming voice. "She certainly described the effects of a Dementor attack very accurately. And I can't imagine why she would say they were there if they weren't."**

**"But Dementors wandering into a Muggle suburb and just happening to come across a wizard?" snorted Fudge. "The odds on that must be very, very long. Even Bagman wouldn't have bet -"**

**"Oh, I don't think any of us believe the Dementors were there by coincidence," said Dumbledore lightly.**

"You're saying someone sent them there." Lily said.

"So it must be Voldemort." Padfoot said.

"Or it could be someone else." Moony said.

**The witch sitting to the right of Fudge, with her face in shadow, moved slightly but everyone else was quite still and silent.**

**"And what is that supposed to mean?" Fudge asked icily.**

**"It means that I think they were ordered there," said Dumbledore.**

**"I think we might have a record of it if someone had ordered a pair of Dementors to go strolling through Little Whinging!" barked Fudge.**

**"Not if the Dementors are taking orders from someone other than the Ministry of Magic these days," said Dumbledore calmly. "I have already given you my views on this matter, Cornelius."**

**"Yes, you have"' said Fudge forcefully, "and I have no reason to believe that your views are anything other than bilge, Dumbledore. "The Dementors remain in place in Azkaban and are doing everything we ask them to."**

**"Then," said Dumbledore, quietly but clearly, "we must ask ourselves why somebody within the Ministry ordered a pair of Dementors into that alleyway on the second of August."**

**In the complete silence that greeted these words, the witch to the right of Fudge leaned forwards so that Cris saw her for the first time.**

**She thought she looked just like a large, pale toad. She was rather squat with a broad, flabby face, as little neck as Uncle Vernon and a very wide, slack mouth. Her eyes were large, round and slightly bulging. Even the little black velvet bow perched on top of her short curly hair put Cris in mind of a large fly she was about to catch on a long sticky tongue. **

Umbridge turned to glare at Cris while Cris just stared defiantly back at her.

"I cannot control my thoughts. I am sorry if I offend you in anyway but that is what I think." Cris said.

"Detention I think," Umbridge said sweetly. Cris narrowed her gaze on her.

"I don't think so, you aren't allowed to while we are in here." Cris said. Umbridge narrowed her gaze and turned back to the book.

**"The Chair recognizes Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister," said Fudge.**

**The witch spoke in a fluttery, girlish, high-pitched voice that took Cris aback; she had been expecting a croak. **

"Don't worry pup, most people think that." Sirius said with a smile.

**"I'm sure I must have misunderstood you, Professor Dumbledore," she said, with a simper that left her big, round eyes as cold as ever. "So silly of me. But it sounded for a teensy moment as though you were suggesting that the Ministry of Magic had ordered an attack on this girl!"**

"If it wasn't Voldemort that sent those dementors I bet it was her." Padfoot whispered.

"Could be," Moony whispered back nodding.

**She gave a silvery laugh that made the hairs on the back of Cris' neck stand up. A few other members of the Wizengamot laughed with her. It could not have been plainer that not one of them was really amused.**

**"If it is true that the Dementors are taking orders only from the Ministry of Magic, and it is also true that two Dementors attacked Cris and her cousin a week ago, then it follows logically that somebody at the Ministry might have ordered the attacks," said Dumbledore politely. "Of course, these particular Dementors may have been outside Ministry control -"**

"That could be possible." Lily said.

**"There are no Dementors outside Ministry control!" snapped Fudge, who had turned brick red. **

"Are you sure, is there a way were you track every single one of them?" Gwen asked.

"No, there isn't." Charlie said.

**Dumbledore inclined his head in a little bow.**

**"Then undoubtedly the Ministry will be making a full inquiry into why two Dementors were so very far from Azkaban and why they attacked without authorization."**

**"It is not for you to decide what the Ministry of Magic does or does not do, Dumbledore!" snapped Fudge, now a shade of magenta of which Uncle Vernon would have been proud.**

**"Of course it isn't," said Dumbledore mildly. "I was merely expressing my confidence that this matter will not go uninvestigated."**

**He glanced at Madam Bones, who readjusted her monocle and stared back at him, frowning slightly.**

**"I would remind everybody that the behavior of these Dementors, if indeed they are not figments of this girl's imagination, is not the subject of this hearing!" said Fudge. "We are here to examine Cristal Potter's offences under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery!"**

**"Of course we are," said Dumbledore, "but the presence of Dementors in that alleyway is highly relevant. Clause Seven of the Decree states that magic may be used before Muggles in exceptional circumstances, and as those exceptional circumstances include situations which threaten the life of the wizard or witch him - or herself, or any witches, wizards or Muggles present at the time of the -"**

**"We are familiar with Clause Seven, thank you very much!" snarled Fudge.**

"Really, it doesn't seem like that." Bill snarked.

"I know right." Charlie said.

**"Of course you are," said Dumbledore courteously. "Then we are in agreement that Cristal's use of the Patronus Charm in these circumstances falls precisely into the category of exceptional circumstances the clause describes?"**

**"If there were Dementors, which I doubt."**

**"You have heard it from an eyewitness," Dumbledore interrupted. "If you still doubt her truthfulness, call her back, question her again. I am sure she would not object."**

**"I - that - not -" blustered Fudge, fiddling with the papers before him. "It's - I want this over with today, Dumbledore!"**

"Then just listen, Cris wouldn't lie about something like this." Lily spat.

"Yeah, like she didn't lie about Voldemort, you're just too stupid to see it." Prongs said.

**"But naturally, you would not care how many times you heard from a witness, if the alternative was a serious miscarriage of justice," said Dumbledore.**

**"Serious miscarriage, my hat!" said Fudge at the top of his voice. "Have you ever bothered to tot up the number of cock-and-bull stories this girl has come out with, Dumbledore, while trying to cover up her flagrant misuse of magic out of school? I suppose you've forgotten the Hover Charm she used three years ago -"**

**"That wasn't me, it was a house-elf!" said Cris.**

"Was it really?" Fudge asked.

"Yes, his name is Dobby, he used to work for the Malfoy's and now works in the kitchens at Hogwarts. He was trying to stop me from going back to school; he said that something dangerous was going to happen. It did, or have you forgotten the attacks three years ago?" Cris said. Fudge looked down, there seems to be a lot he didn't know considering the girl's life.

**"YOU SEE" roared Fudge, gesturing flamboyantly in Harry's direction. "A house-elf! In a Muggle house! I ask you."**

**"The house-elf in question is currently in the employ of Hogwarts School," said Dumbledore. "I can summon him here in an instant to give evidence if you wish."**

"You should have." Robin said.

"I would have loved to see that." Sirius said.

"You've seen my home life, if I even use magic, I get beaten. Not so much now, but I used to. So why would I risk it." Cris said. Fudge's eyes widened, she was abused, just because she did accidental magic?

**"I - not - I haven't got time to listen to house-elves! Anyway, that's not the only - she blew up her aunt, for God's sake!" Fudge shouted, banging his fist on the judge's bench and upsetting a bottle of ink.**

**"And you very kindly did not press charges on that occasion, accepting, I presume, that even the best wizards cannot always control their emotions," said Dumbledore calmly, as Fudge attempted to scrub the ink off his notes.**

"She was calling my mum a female dog, and my dad an unemployed drunk. You try hearing that and see how you feel." Cris said coolly.

**"And I haven't even started on what she gets up to at school."**

"If it wasn't for her the school would have been closed." Neville said.

"And that really isn't your business." Remus said.

**"But, as the Ministry has no authority to punish Hogwarts students for misdemeanors at school, Cris' behavior there is not relevant to this hearing," said Dumbledore, as politely as ever, but now with a suggestion of coolness behind his words.**

**"Oho!" said Fudge. "Not our business what she does at school, eh? You think so?" **

"She isn't being tried for the things she's done at school." Lily said continuing to glare at the Minister.

**"The Ministry does not have the power to expel Hogwarts students, Cornelius, as I reminded you on the night of the second of August," said Dumbledore. "Nor does it have the right to confiscate wands until charges have been successfully proven; again, as I reminded you on the night of the second of August. In your admirable haste to ensure that the law is upheld, you appear, inadvertently I am sure, to have overlooked a few laws yourself."**

**"Laws can be changed," said Fudge savagely.**

"Oh, so you'll risk the lives of the other underage students because you're so thick headed to listen to what happened in the first place." Lily snapped.

**"Of course they can," said Dumbledore, inclining his head. "And you certainly seem to be making many changes, Cornelius. Why, in the few short weeks since I was asked to leave the Wizengamot, it has already become the practice to hold a full criminal trial to deal with a simple matter of underage magic!"**

**A few of the wizards above them shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Fudge turned a slightly deeper shade of puce. The toad like witch on his right, however, merely gazed at Dumbledore, her face quite expressionless.**

**"As far as I am aware," Dumbledore continued, "there is no law yet in place that says this court's job is to punish Cristal for every bit of magic she has ever performed. She has been charged with a specific offence and she has presented her defense. All she and I can do now is to await your verdict."**

**Dumbledore put his fingertips together again and said no more. Fudge glared at him, evidently incensed. Cris glanced sideways at Dumbledore, seeking reassurance; she was not at all sure that Dumbledore was right in telling the Wizengamot, in effect, that it was about time they made a decision. Again, however, Dumbledore seemed oblivious to Cris' attempt to catch his eye. He continued to look up at the benches where the entire Wizengamot had fallen into urgent, whispered conversations.**

**Cris looked at her feet. Her heart, which seemed to have swollen to an unnatural size, was thumping loudly under her ribs. She had expected the hearing to last longer than this. She was not at all sure that she had made a good impression. She had not really said very much. She ought to have explained more fully about the Dementors, about how she had fallen over, about how both she and Dudley had nearly been kissed… **

"No, you did all you could. If you continued to explain they will continued to not listen to you." Remus said. Cris nodded she wasn't sure then.

**Twice she looked up at Fudge and opened her mouth to speak, but her swollen heart was now constricting her air passages and both times she merely took a deep breath and looked back down at her shoes.**

**Then the whispering stopped. Cris wanted to look up at the judges, but found that it was really much, much easier to keep examining her laces.**

**"Those in favor of clearing the witness of all charges?" said Madam Bones' booming voice.**

**Cris' head jerked upwards. There were hands in the air, many of them… more than half!**

"Good, you're cleared." Prongs said with a sigh of relief.

**Breathing very fast, she tried to count, but before she could finish, Madam Bones had said, "And those in favor of conviction?"**

**Fudge raised his hand; so did half a dozen others, including the witch on his right and the heavily-mustached wizard and the frizzy-haired witch in the second row. Fudge glanced around at them all; looking as though there was something large stuck in his throat, then lowered his own hand. He took two deep breaths and said, in a voice distorted by suppressed rage, "Very well, very well… cleared of all charges." **

The room erupted into cheers and Cris was kissed by Fred and George once again.

**"Excellent," said Dumbledore briskly, springing to his feet, pulling out his wand and causing the two chintz armchairs to vanish. "Well, I must be getting along. Good-day to you all." And without looking once at Cris, he swept from the dungeon.**

"Why didn't you stay?" Lily asked.

"Am I right in thinking that it will appear later in the book?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes sir." Al said. Dumbledore nodded and handed the book to McGonagall.


	10. Chapter 9: The Woes of Mrs Weasley

"**Chapter 9: The Woes of Mrs. Weasley," **McGonagall read.

"What woes?" Mr. Weasley asked his wife.

"Sorry Mrs. Weasley," Cris said.

"It's alright dear. It's silly Arthur, just me worrying." Mrs. Weasley said.

**Dumbledore's abrupt departure took Cris completely by surprise. She remained sitting where she was in the chained chair, struggling with her feelings of shock and relief. The Wizengamot were all getting to their feet, talking, gathering up their papers and packing them away. Cris stood up. Nobody seemed to be paying her the slightest bit of attention, except the toad like witch on Fudge's right, who was now gazing down at her instead of at Dumbledore. Ignoring her, she tried to catch Fudge's eye, or Madam Bones', wanting to ask whether she was free to go, but Fudge seemed quite determined not to notice Cris, and Madam Bones was busy with her briefcase, so she took a few tentative steps towards the exit and, when nobody called her back, broke into a very fast walk.**

The group chuckled at that.

"Well would you have done the same thing?" Cris asked.

"Yeah, probably." Bill said.

**She took the last few steps at a run, wrenched open the door and almost collided with Mr. Weasley, who was standing right outside, looking pale and apprehensive.**

**"****Dumbledore didn't say -"**

**"****Cleared," Cris said, pulling the door closed behind her, "of all charges!"**

**Beaming, Mr. Weasley seized Cris by the shoulders.**

**"****Cris, that's wonderful! Well, of course, they couldn't have found you guilty, not on the evidence, but even so, I can't pretend I wasn't -"**

"We all were worried." Sirius said.

"Especially since they changed the time on you." Remus said.

**But Mr. Weasley broke off, because the courtroom door had just opened again. The Wizengamot were filing out.**

**"****Merlin's beard!" exclaimed Mr. Weasley wonderingly, pulling Cris aside to let them all pass.**

**"****You were tried by the full court?"**

**"****I think so," said Cris quietly.**

"The Potter's have a seat there, did you know that?" Prongs asked. Cris looked over at her dad in shock and shook her head. "Well know you do,"

**One or two of the wizards nodded to Cris as they passed and a few, including Madam Bones, said, "Morning, Arthur," to Mr. Weasley, but most averted their eyes. Cornelius Fudge and the toad like witch were almost the last to leave the dungeon. Fudge acted as though Mr. Weasley and Cris were part of the wall, but again, the witch looked almost appraisingly at Cris as she passed. Last of all to pass was Percy. Like Fudge, he completely ignored his father and Cris; he marched past clutching a large roll of parchment and a handful of spare quills, his back rigid and his nose in the air. The lines around Mr. Weasleys mouth tightened slightly, but other than this he gave no sign that he had seen his third son. **

"I'm sorry dad." Percy said. Mr. Weasley looked over at him and nodded.

"At least he's seen the light sooner." Victoire whispered to her fiancé.

"Hopefully that's a good thing." Keiran said.

**"****I'm going to take you straight back so you can tell the others the good news," he said, beckoning Cris forwards as Percy's heels disappeared up the steps to Level Nine. "I'll drop you off on the way to that toilet in Bethnal Green. Come on…"**

**"****So, what will you have to do about the toilet?" Cris asked, grinning. Everything suddenly seemed five times funnier than usual. It was starting to sink in: she was cleared, she was going back to Hogwarts.**

**"Oh, it's a simple enough anti-jinx," said Mr. Weasley as they mounted the stairs, "but it's not so much having to repair the damage, it's more the attitude behind the vandalism, Cris. Muggle baiting might strike some wizards as funny, but it's an expression of something much deeper and nastier, and I for one -"**

"Could it be possible that these are just the slightest sign of the start of the war?" Charlie asked.

"It's possible," Dumbledore said.

**Mr. Weasley broke off in mid-sentence. They had just reached the ninth-level corridor and Cornelius Fudge was standing a few feet away from them, talking quietly to a tall man with sleek blond hair and a pointed, pale face.**

"My father," Draco whispered. Luna put a hand on his arm and smiled at him.

**The second man turned at the sound of their footsteps. He, too, broke off in mid-conversation, his cold grey eyes narrowed and fixed upon Cris' face.**

**"****Well, well, well… Patronus Potter," said Lucius Malfoy coolly.**

"That could be a compliment as well." Draco said.

"Like I want to be complimented by him." Cris said.

**Cris felt winded, as though she had just walked into something solid. She had last seen those cold grey eyes through slits in a Death Eaters hood, and last heard that man's voice jeering in a dark graveyard while Lord Voldemort tortured her. Cris could not believe that Lucius Malfoy dared look her in the face; she could not believe that he was here, in the Ministry of Magic, or that Cornelius Fudge was talking to him, when Cris had told Fudge mere weeks ago that Malfoy was a Death Eater.**

**"****The Minister was just telling me about your lucky escape, Potter," drawled Mr. Malfoy. "Quite astonishing, the way you continue to wriggle out of very tight holes… snakelike, in fact."**

"Well I was almost sorted into Slytherin." Cris said.

"You could have gone into any house pup." Sirius said.

"Really?" Fudge asked.

"Yeah, you want to read what the sorting hat said to me?" Cris asked.

"No, I actually can see it." Fudge said.

**Mr. Weasley gripped Cris' shoulder in warning.**

**"Yeah," said Cris, "yeah, I'm good at escaping."**

"Cris, don't do that." Sirius said.

"Sorry," Cris said looking down.

**Lucius Malfoy raised his eyes to Mr. Weasley's face.**

**"****And Arthur Weasley too! What are you doing here, Arthur?"**

**"****I work here," said Mr. Weasley curtly.**

**"Not here, surely?" said Mr. Malfoy, raising his eye brows and glancing towards the door over Mr. Weasley's shoulder. "I thought you were up on the second floor… don't you do something that involves sneaking Muggle artifacts home and bewitching them?"**

Mr. Weasley looked furiously at the book in McGonagall's hands.

**"****No," Mr. Weasley snapped, his fingers now biting into Cris' shoulder.**

"Sorry," Mr. Weasley said. Cris waved it away.

"It wasn't the shoulder I had tattooed so it's fine, besides it wouldn't have been good for you to have attacked him there and then." Cris said.

**"****What are you doing here, anyway?" Cris asked Lucius Malfoy.**

**"****I don't think private matters between myself and the Minister are any concern of yours, Potter," said Malfoy, smoothing the front of his robes. Cris distinctly heard the gentle clinking of what sounded like a full pocket of gold. "Really, just because you are Dumbledore's favorite girl, you must not expect the same indulgence from the rest of us… shall we go up to your office, then, Minister?"**

**"****Certainly," said Fudge, turning his back on Cris and Mr. Weasley. "This way, Lucius."**

"I am such an idiot." Fudge said.

"Wow, he admitted it." Cris whispered to the twins. Fred and George laughed at that.

**They strode off together, talking in low voices. Mr. Weasley did not let go of Cris' shoulder until they had disappeared into the lift.**

**"****Why wasn't he waiting outside Fudge's office if they've got business to do together?" Cris burst out furiously. "What was he doing down here?"**

**"****Trying to sneak down to the courtroom, if you ask me," said Mr. Weasley, looking extremely agitated and glancing over his shoulder as though making sure they could not be overheard.**

**"Trying to find out whether you'd been expelled or not. I'll leave a note for Dumbledore when I drop you off, he ought to know Malfoy's been talking to Fudge again."**

**"****What private business have they got together, anyway?"**

"I don't think we want to know." Charlie said.

**"****Gold, I expect," said Mr. Weasley angrily. "Malfoy's been giving generously to all sorts of things for years… gets him in with the right people… then he can ask favors… delay laws he doesn't want passed… oh, he's very well-connected, Lucius Malfoy."**

"In all the wrong ways." Sirius said.

"I can't believe I'm related to him." Tonks said.

**The lift arrived; it was empty except for a flock of memos that flapped around Mr. Weasley's head as he pressed the button for the Atrium and the doors clanged shut. He waved them away irritably.**

**"****Mr. Weasley" said Cris slowly, "if Fudge is meeting Death Eaters like Malfoy, if he's seeing them alone, how do we know they haven't put the Imperius Curse on him?"**

**"****Don't think it hasn't occurred to us, Cris" said Mr. Weasley quietly. "But Dumbledore thinks Fudge is acting of his own accord at the moment - which, as Dumbledore says, is not a lot of comfort. Best not talk about it anymore just now, Cris."**

"Especially at the Ministry." Kingsley said.

**The doors slid open and they stepped out into the now almost-deserted Atrium. Eric the watch wizard was hidden behind his Daily Prophet again. They had walked straight past the golden fountain before Cris remembered.**

**"****Wait…" she told Mr. Weasley, and, pulling her moneybag from her pocket, she turned back to the fountain.**

**She looked up into the handsome wizard's face, but up close Cris thought he looked rather weak and foolish. The witch was wearing a vapid smile like a beauty contestant, and from what Cris knew of goblins and centaurs, they were most unlikely to be caught staring so soppily at humans of any description. **

"Yeah, that really needs to be replaced." Bill said.

**Only the house-elf's attitude of creeping servility looked convincing. With a grin at the thought of what Hermione would say if she could see the statue of the elf, Cris turned her moneybag upside-down and emptied not just ten Galleons, but the whole contents into the pool. **

"That'll really help." Mr. Weasley said. Cris smiled and looked over at Neville who was smiling at her too and she smiled back.

**"****I knew it!" yelled Ron, punching the air. "You always get away with stuff!"**

**"****They were bound to clear you," said Hermione, who had looked positively faint with anxiety when Cris had entered the kitchen and was now holding a shaking hand over her eyes, "there was no case against you, none at all."**

**"****Everyone seems quite relieved, though, considering you all knew I'd get off," said Cris, smiling.**

**Mrs. Weasley was wiping her face on her apron, and Fred, George and Ginny were doing a kind of war dance to a chant that went: "She got off, she got off, she got off…"**

"We were doing it out of relief." Fred said.

"I know," Cris said with a smile. "and thank you."

"You are very welcome, Bambi." George said.

**"****That's enough! Settle down!" shouted Mr. Weasley, though he too was smiling. "Listen, Sirius, Lucius Malfoy was at the Ministry -"**

**"****What?" said Sirius sharply.**

**"****She got off, she got off, she got off…"**

**"****Be quiet, you three! Yes, we saw him talking to Fudge on Level Nine, then they went up to Fudge's office together. Dumbledore ought to know."**

**"****Absolutely," said Sirius. "We'll tell him, don't worry."**

**"Well, I'd better get going, there's a vomiting toilet waiting for me in Bethnal Green. Molly, I'll be late, I'm covering for Tonks, but Kingsley might be dropping in for dinner -"**

**"****She got off, she got off, she got off…" **

"Of course they are still doing it." Prongs said with a smile.

**"****That's enough - Fred - George - Ginny!" said Mrs. Weasley, as Mr. Weasley left the kitchen.**

**"****Cris, dear, come and sit down, have some lunch, you hardly ate breakfast."**

**Ron and Hermione sat themselves down opposite her, looking happier than they had done since she had first arrived at Grimmauld Place, and Cris' feeling of giddy relief, which had been somewhat dented by her encounter with Lucius Malfoy, swelled again. The gloomy house seemed warmer and more welcoming all of a sudden; even Kreacher looked less ugly as he poked his snout like nose into the kitchen to investigate the source of all the noise.**

"Of course, now that you're all giddy everything will seem different." Lily said.

**"****Course, once Dumbledore turned up on your side, there was no way they were going to convict you," said Ron happily, now dishing great mounds of mashed potatoes on to everyone's plates.**

"But I am not well liked anymore so it could have gone badly." Dumbledore said.

"I don't even want to think about it." Cris said.

**"****Yeah, he swung it for me," said Cris. She felt it would sound highly ungrateful, not to mention childish, to say, "I wish he'd talked to me, though. Or even looked at me."**

**And as she thought this, the scar on her forehead burned so badly that she clapped her hand to it.**

**"****What's up?" said Hermione, looking alarmed.**

**"****Scar," Cris mumbled. "But it's nothing… it happens all the time now…"**

"Why is that happening?" Lily asked.

"I don't know." Cris said.

"I think we'll find out." Moony said.

"I think so too." Robin said.

**None of the others had noticed a thing; all of them were now helping themselves to food while gloating over Cris' narrow escape; Fred, George and Ginny were still singing. Hermione looked rather anxious, but before she could say anything, Ron had said happily, "I bet Dumbledore turns up this evening, to celebrate with us, you know."**

**"****I don't think he'll be able to, Ron," said Mrs. Weasley, setting a huge plate of roast chicken down in front of Cris. "He's really very busy at the moment."**

**"SHE GOT OFF, SHE GOT OFF, SHE GOT OFF"**

**"****SHUT UP!" roared Mrs. Weasley.**

"Ginny is more like the twins then I thought." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Well she is the only girl." Mr. Weasley said.

**Over the next few days Cris could not help noticing that there was one person within number twelve, Grimmauld Place, who did not seem wholly overjoyed that she would be returning to Hogwarts. Sirius had put up a very good show of happiness on first hearing the news, hugging Cris and beaming just like the rest of them. Soon, however, he was moodier and surlier than before, talking less to everybody, even Cris, and spending increasing amounts of time shut up in his mother's room with Buckbeak.**

"Oh Sirius," Robin said kissing his cheek.

"I know," Sirius said.

"I wasn't mad at you; I just wished I got to spend more time with you." Cris said.

"I'm sorry pup." Sirius said. Cris just smiled at him, letting him know that everything was alright.

**"****Don't you go feeling guilty!" said Hermione sternly, after Cris had confided some of her feelings to her and Ron while they scrubbed out a moldy cupboard on the third floor a few days later. "You belong at Hogwarts and Sirius knows it. Personally, I think he's being selfish." **

"I know I was, I just wanted to get to know my goddaughter a little better." Sirius said.

"I know Sirius, and I am sorry." Hermione said.

**"****That's a bit harsh, Hermione," said Ron, frowning as he attempted to prize off a bit of mold that had attached itself firmly to his finger, "you wouldn't want to be stuck inside this house without any company."**

"I definitely wouldn't want that." Padfoot said.

**"****He'll have company!" said Hermione. "It's Headquarters to the Order of the Phoenix, isn't it? He just got his hopes up that Cris would be coming to live here with him."**

"Actually, the only company I had were Remus and Robin and sometimes Tonks. The others would only come when there was a meeting." Sirius said.

"Sorry," Hermione said.

"It's alright, you didn't know." Sirius said.

**"****I don't think that's true" said Cris, wringing out her cloth. "He wouldn't give me a straight answer when I asked him if I could."**

**"He just didn't want to get his own hopes up even more," said Hermione wisely. "And he probably felt a bit guilty himself, because I think a part of him was really hoping you'd be expelled. Then you'd both be outcasts together."**

**"****Come off it!" said Cris and Ron together, but Hermione merely shrugged. **

**"****Suit yourselves. But I sometimes think Ron's mum's right and Sirius gets confused about whether you're you or your father or mother, Cris." **

"No, you may look like him and act like Lily, but some of the things you do are uniquely yours." Remus said. Cris smiled at him and he smiled back.

**"So you think he's touched in the head?" said Cris heatedly.**

**"No, I just think he's been very lonely for a long time," said Hermione simply.**

"That's true," Sirius mumbled under his breath.

"And you won't be from now on." Robin said kissing him.

**At this point, Mrs. Weasley entered the bedroom behind them.**

**"Still not finished?" she said, poking her head into the cupboard.**

"Wait it was a cupboard?" Remus asked.

"I wasn't in there I was outside it, Hermione and Ron were in there, Mia could tell that I was uncomfortable in there." Cris said.

"And now we know why." Hermione said.

**"I thought you might be here to tell us to have a break" said Ron bitterly. "D'you know how much mold we've got rid of since we arrived here?"**

**"You were so keen to help the Order," said Mrs. Weasley, "you can do your bit by making Headquarters fit to live in."**

**"I feel like a house-elf," grumbled Ron.**

Hermione turned to glare at Ron.

"It's just an expression." Ron said grumbling.

**"Well, now you understand what dreadful lives they lead, perhaps you'll be a bit more active in SPEW!" said Hermione hopefully, as Mrs. Weasley left them to it. "You know, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to show people exactly how horrible it is to clean all the time - we could do a sponsored scrub of Gryffindor common room, all proceeds to SPEW, it would raise awareness as well as funds." **

"Somehow, I don't think that would work." Charlie said.

"We never did get a chance to do it." Cris said.

"Yeah, we've been super busy this year." Hermione said.

"With what?" Mrs. Weasley asked. She hoped that they aren't doing that defense club they were talking about.

"You'll find out." Ron said. They had the defense group and the animagus training this year.

**"I'll sponsor you to shut up about SPEW," Ron muttered irritably, but only so Cris could hear him.**

Hermione turned to glare at him. Ron turned to her and kissed her.

**Cris found herself daydreaming about Hogwarts more and more as the end of the holidays approached; she could not wait to see Hagrid again, to play Quidditch, even to stroll across the vegetable patches to the Herbology greenhouses; it would be a treat just to leave this dusty, musty house, where half of the cupboards were still bolted shut and Kreacher wheezed insults out of the shadows as you passed, though Cris was careful not to say any of this within earshot of Sirius. **

"It's okay pup, I understand." Sirius said with a smile. Cris smiled back at him, happy she didn't hurt his feelings any.

**The fact was that living at the Headquarters of the anti-Voldemort movement was not nearly as interesting or exciting as Cris would have expected before she'd experienced it. **

**Though members of the Order of the Phoenix came and went regularly, sometimes staying for meals, sometimes only for a few minutes of whispered conversation, Mrs. Weasley made sure that Cris and the others were kept well out of earshot (whether Extendable or normal) and nobody, not even Sirius, seemed to feel that Cris needed to know anything more than she had heard on the night of her arrival. **

"I understand," Cris said.

"Good, because some of the stuff wasn't something you need to know." Remus said. Cris nodded and McGonagall continued reading.

**On the very last day of the holidays Cris was sweeping up Hedwig's owl droppings from the top of the wardrobe when Hermione entered her and Ron's bedroom carrying a couple of envelopes.**

**"Booklists have arrived," she said, throwing one of the envelopes up to Cris, who was standing on a chair. "About time, I thought they'd forgotten, they usually come much earlier than this…" **

"Yeah, that is odd." Lily said.

**Cris swept the last of the droppings into a rubbish bag and threw the bag over Hermione's head into the wastepaper basket in the corner, which swallowed it and belched loudly. She then opened her letter. It contained two pieces of parchment: one the usual reminder that term started on the first of September; the other telling her which books she would need for the coming year.**

"**Only two new ones," she said, reading the list, "The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5, by Miranda Goshawk, and Defensive Magical Theory, by Wilbert Slinkhard." **

"Just a theory book? In their OWL year, how in the world are they supposed to learn anything?" Lily asked.

"They need some practical, what does the teacher expect, the students being able to get the spell the first time? You need to practice it over and over again." Moony said.

**Crack.**

**Fred and George Apparated right beside Cris. She was so used to them doing this by now that she didn't even fall off her chair.**

**"We were just wondering who assigned the Slinkhard book," said Fred conversationally.**

**"Because it means Dumbledore's found a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," said George.**

**"And about time too," said Fred.**

**"What d'you mean?" Cris asked, jumping down beside them.**

**"Well, we overheard Mum and Dad talking on the Extendable Ears a few weeks back," Fred told Cris, "and from what they were saying, Dumbledore was having real trouble finding anyone to do the job this year."**

"The record isn't exactly good." Bill said.

"Mum has been the teacher since the end of the war." Keiran said.

"So the curse broke?" Prongs asked.

"It certainly seems so." Moony said.

**"Not surprising, is it, when you look at what's happened to the last four?" said George.**

**"One sacked, one dead, one's memory removed and one locked in a trunk for nine months," said Cris, counting them off on her fingers. "Yeah, I see what you mean." **

"I think I got the good end of that deal." Remus said.

"Yeah, you got off lucky." Robin said to her brother.

**Ron stepped into the room then with a shocked expression on his face staring at something in his hand. **

**"What's up with you, Ron?" asked Fred.**

**Ron did not answer. Cris looked round. Ron was standing very still with his mouth slightly open, gaping at his letter from Hogwarts.**

**"What's the matter?" said Fred impatiently, moving around Ron to look over his shoulder at the parchment.**

**Fred's mouth fell open, too.**

**"Prefect?" he said, staring incredulously at the letter. "Prefect?"**

"Congrats!" cried the room. Lily looked hopeful that her daughter would be one too.

**George leapt forwards, seized the envelope in Ron's other hand and turned it upside-down. Cris saw something scarlet and gold fall into George's palm.**

**"No way," said George in a hushed voice.**

**"There's been a mistake," said Fred, snatching the letter out of Ron's grasp and holding it up to the light as though checking for a watermark. "No one in their right mind would make Ron a prefect."**

"Well I am a bit mad." Dumbledore said. Fred blushed while the group laughed at that.

**The twins turned to Cris. **

"**What about you? Did you get prefect too?" George asked. **

"**No, I didn't I just got the booklist." Cris said. Fred looked over at Hermione who sitting on Cris' bed staring at a scarlet and gold badge in her hands.**

"**I'm a prefect!" Hermione exclaimed jumping up. Cris smiled and went over to hug her. **

"**But I thought for sure it would be you Cris." George said. **

"**You won the Triwizard cup and everything." Fred said. **

"**I suppose all the mad stuff must have counted against her." George said to Fred. **

"Then doesn't that count for Hermione and Ron as well? They always go with her." Bill asked.

"I have specific reasons for picking prefects and head boys and girls." Dumbledore said.

"Like matchmaking?" Remus asked.

"One of the reasons." Dumbledore said with a chuckle.

"**Yeah, you've caused a lot of trouble Crisy. Well at least one of you got your priorities right." Fred said. **

"**Crisy?" Cris asked screwing up her eyebrows. Fred shrugged but turned to look at his twin. Then they both turned to Ron. **

**"Prefect… ickle Ronnie the Prefect."**

**"Oh, Mum's going to be revolting," groaned George, thrusting the prefect badge back at Ron as though it might contaminate him.**

"**Well it seems as you are in need of some prefect free time Cris, so in case you ever get bored, you know where to find us." Fred said. Cris blushed brightly at that and she heard the two of them chuckle. **

**Ron, who still had not said a word, took the badge, stared at it for a moment, then held it out to Cris as though asking mutely for confirmation that it was genuine. Cris took it. A large P was superimposed on the Gryffindor lion. She had seen a badge just like this on Percy's chest on her very first day at Hogwarts.**

"**Seems real mate, Congrates." Cris said handing it back to him. **

"So all it takes for you to finally realize it is for Cris to say it was?" Charlie asked.

"Some of the time." Ron said with a blush.

"Thanks Red," Cris said.

**The door behind Cris opened a little wider and Mrs. Weasley backed into the room carrying a pile of freshly laundered robes.**

"And here comes Mum's reaction." Charlie whispered to Bill. Bill nodded and rolled his eyes.

**"Ginny said the booklists had come at last," she said, glancing around at all the envelopes as she made her way over to the bed and started sorting the robes into two piles. "If you give them to me I'll take them over to Diagon Alley this afternoon and get your books while you're packing. Ron, I'll have to get you more pajamas, these are at least six inches too short, I can't believe how fast you're growing… what color would you like?"**

**"Get him red and gold to match his badge," said George, smirking.**

**"Match his what?" said Mrs. Weasley absently, rolling up a pair of maroon socks and placing them on Ron's pile.**

**"His badge," said Fred, with the air of getting the worst over quickly. "His lovely shiny new prefect's badge."**

**Fred's words took a moment to penetrate Mrs. Weasley's preoccupation with pajamas.**

**"His… but… Ron, you're not…?"**

"I was just shocked is all." Mrs. Weasley said.

"It's alright, everyone was." Ron said.

**Ron held up his badge.**

**Mrs. Weasley let out a shriek just like Hermione's.**

**"I don't believe it! I don't believe it! Oh, Ron, how wonderful! A prefect! That's everyone in the family!"**

**"What are Fred and I, next-door neighbors?" said George indignantly, as his mother pushed him aside and flung her arms around her youngest son. **

"That's alright; I still love the two of you." Cris said. She kissed them both and McGonagall continued reading.

**"Wait until your father hears! Ron, I'm so proud of you, what wonderful news, you could end up Head Boy just like Bill and Percy, it's the first step! Oh, what a thing to happen in the middle of all this worry, I'm just thrilled, oh, Ronnie —"**

**Fred and George were both making loud retching noises behind her back but Mrs. Weasley did not notice;**

Mrs. Weasley through a sharp glare at the two of them while the others laughed.

**arms tight around Ron's neck, she was kissing him all over his face, which had turned a brighter scarlet than his badge.**

**"Mum… don't… Mum, get a grip…" he muttered, trying to push her away.**

**She let go of him and said breathlessly, "Well, what will it be? We gave Percy an owl, but you've already got one, of course."**

**"W-what do you mean?" said Ron, looking as though he did not dare believe his ears.**

"It's a tradition to give a present to the prefect." Mr. Weasley said.

"So that's why Lily got a new cauldron." James said.

"Lily's a prefect?" Cris, Fred and George asked.

"Yeah, you guys were so surprised, considering the kind of stuff we get into." Lily J said.

**"You've got to have a reward for this!" said Mrs. Weasley fondly. "How about a nice new set of dress robes?"**

**"We've already bought him some," said Fred sourly, who looked as though he sincerely regretted this generosity.**

**"Or a new cauldron, Charlie's old one's rusting through, or a new rat, you always liked Scabbers"**

Many people growled.

"Why didn't you tell me what happened?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"We didn't want you to worry." Ron said.

"You still should have told me." Mrs. Weasley said.

**"Mum," said Ron hopefully, "can I have a new broom?"**

**Mrs. Weasley's face fell slightly; broomsticks were expensive.**

"Yeah they are but if you want one then mum will get you one." Charlie said.

**"Not a really good one!" Ron hastened to add. "Just - just a new one for a change…"**

**Mrs. Weasley hesitated, then smiled.**

**"Of course you can… well, I'd better get going if I've got a broom to buy too. I'll see you all later… little Ronnie, a prefect! And don't forget to pack your trunks… a prefect… oh, I'm all of a dither!"**

**She gave Ron yet another kiss on the cheek, sniffed loudly, and bustled from the room.**

**Fred and George exchanged looks.**

**"You don't mind if we don't kiss you, do you, Ron?" said Fred in a falsely anxious voice.**

**"We could curtsey, if you like," said George.**

**"Oh, shut up," said Ron, scowling at them.**

**"Or what?" said Fred, an evil grin spreading across his face. "Going to put us in detention?" **

"He could." Mrs. Weasley said.

"He hasn't yet." They said.

"That's because Cris always talks me out of it." Ron said.

"Of course she does," Sirius said with a smile.

**"I'd love to see him try," sniggered George.**

"Thank you Bambi," George said.

"You are so welcome, Trouble." Cris said.

**"He could if you don't watch out!" said Hermione angrily.**

**Fred and George burst out laughing, and Ron muttered, "Drop it, Hermione."**

**"We're going to have to watch our step, George," said Fred, pretending to tremble, "with these two on our case…"**

**"Yeah, it looks like our law-breaking days are finally over," said George, shaking his head.**

**And with another loud crack, the twins Disapparated.**

**"Those two!" said Hermione furiously, staring up at the ceiling, through which they could now hear Fred and George roaring with laughter in the room upstairs. **

"**So now that they're gone. Remember what I mentioned last year before the second task?" Cris asked. **

"**What becoming animagi?" Hermione asked. **

"**Yeah, with Voldemort back, it'll be a good disguise." Cris said. Ron and Hermione both flinched at the name.**

"**But won't we get into trouble?" Hermione asked.**

"**Come on Hermione, Cris' dad and Sirius became animagi, they never got caught. This'll be great." Ron said with a wide smile. **

"**Alright, we'll start when we get to school." Hermione said. Ron and Cris shared a smile. **

"You three didn't." Mrs. Weasley said eyes wide. The three turned to look at Sirius and Remus.

"Just show them, they'll find out anyway." Sirius said. The trio nodded and stood up and changed. Cris into her black cheetah form, Ron into his red panda and Hermione into a brown wolf.

"Well, that explains the names." Bill said.

"Cheetah's are the fastest land animal known to man." Gwen said as the three turned back. "It suits you, since you're super-fast."

"I'm even faster than a were-wolf." Cris said with a smile towards Moony and Remus.

"I am very impressed with the three of you but you should have at least come to us." McGonagall said. They nodded sheepishly and she continued reading.

**"Don't pay any attention to them, Ron, they're only jealous!" Hermione said pointing up to where the twins disappeared to.**

**"I don't think they are," said Ron doubtfully, also looking up at the ceiling. "They've always said only prats become prefects… still," he added on a happier note, "they've never had new brooms! I wish I could go with Mum and choose… she'll never be able to afford a Nimbus, but there's the new Cleansweep out, that'd be great… yeah, I think I'll go and tell her I like the Cleansweep, just so she knows." **

"That'll be helpful." Charlie said. As much as he loves his mother she doesn't know racing brooms.

**He dashed from the room, leaving Cris and Hermione alone.**

**For some reason, Cris found she did not want to look at Hermione. She turned to her bed, picked up the pile of clean robes Mrs. Weasley had laid on it and crossed the room to her trunk.**

**"Cris?" said Hermione tentatively.**

**"Well done, Hermione," said Cris, so heartily it did not sound like her voice at all, and, still not looking at her, "brilliant. Prefect. Great."**

**"Thanks," said Hermione. "Erm - Cris - could I borrow Hedwig so I can tell Mum and Dad? They'll be really pleased - I mean prefect is something they can understand."**

**"Yeah, no problem," said Cris, still in the horrible hearty voice that did not belong to her. "Take her!" **

"Were you jealous?" Hermione asked.

"In a way, I felt better later on though." Cris said.

**She leaned over her trunk, laid the robes on the bottom of it and pretended to be rummaging for something while Hermione crossed to the wardrobe and called Hedwig down. A few moments passed; Cris heard the door close but remained bent double, listening; the only sounds she could hear were the blank picture on the wall sniggering again and the wastepaper basket in the corner coughing up the owl droppings.**

**She straightened up and looked behind her. Hermione had left and Hedwig had gone. Cris hurried across the room, closed the door, then returned slowly to her bed and sank on to it, gazing unseeingly at the foot of the wardrobe.**

**She had forgotten completely about prefects being chosen in the fifth year. She had been too anxious about the possibility of being expelled to spare a thought for the fact that badges must be winging their way towards certain people. But if she had remembered… if she had thought about it… what would she have expected?**

**Not this, said a small and truthful voice inside her head.**

**Cris screwed up her face and buried it in her hands. She could not lie to herself; if she had known the prefect badge was on its way, she would have expected it to come to her or maybe Hermione. Did this make her as arrogant as Draco Malfoy? Did she think herself superior to everyone else? Did she really believe she was better than Hermione?**

"Sorry, I might have a lot of thoughts like this one this year." Cris said.

"It's alright, we all have those thoughts every once in a while." Robin said. She did when her brother became prefect as did Lily.

**No, said the small voice defiantly.**

**Was that true? Cris wondered, anxiously probing her own feelings.**

**I'm better at Quidditch, said the voice. But Hermione and I are tied in almost all of our classes. **

"That part is true." Hermione said. They smiled at each other and McGonagall continued reading.

**But what about outside lessons? What about those adventures she, Ron and Hermione had had together since starting at Hogwarts, often risking much worse than expulsion?**

**Well, Ron and Hermione were with me most of the time, said the voice in Cris' head.**

**Not all the time, though, Cris argued with herself. They didn't fight Quirrell with me. They didn't take on Riddle and the Basilisk. They didn't get rid of all those Dementors the night Sirius escaped. They weren't in that graveyard with me, the night Voldemort returned…**

**And the same feeling of ill-usage that had overwhelmed her on the night he had arrived rose again. I've definitely done more, Cris thought indignantly. I've done more than either of them! **

"We know Cris, but as Dumbledore said, he has his reasons." Hermione said.

"I have a lot of thoughts like that." Cris said.

**But maybe, said the small voice fairly, maybe Dumbledore doesn't choose prefects because they've got themselves into a load of dangerous situations… maybe he chooses them for other reasons… Hermione must have something you don't…**

"Or maybe they would be cute together." Tonks said. Hermione and Ron blushed at that as the rest laughed at them.

**Cris opened her eyes and stared through her fingers at the wardrobe's clawed feet, remembering what Fred had said: "No one in their right mind would make Ron a prefect…"**

**Cris gave a small snort of laughter. A second later she felt sickened with herself.**

"Good, at least you're coming back to your senses." Sirius said. He didn't like the fact that his goddaughter was thinking these thoughts.

**Hermione had not asked Dumbledore to give her the prefect badge. This was not Hermione's fault. Was she, Cris, Hermione's best friend in the world, going to sulk because she didn't have a badge, laugh with the twins behind Ron's and Hermione's back, ruin this for Ron when, for the first time, he had beaten Harry at something?**

**At this point Cris heard Ron's footsteps on the stairs again. She stood up, grabbed his glasses and put them in her trunk, and hitched a grin on to his face as Ron bounded back through the door.**

**"Just caught her!" he said happily. "She says she'll get the Cleansweep if she can."**

**"Cool," Cris said, and she was relieved to hear that her voice had stopped sounding hearty.**

**"Listen - Ron - well done, mate."**

"I think that may have been the shortest anger moment you've ever had." Ron said with a grin.

"Yeah, probably." Cris said with a chuckle.

**The smile faded off Ron's face.**

**"I never thought it would be me!" he said, shaking his head. "I thought it would be you instead of Mione!"**

**"Nah, I've caused too much trouble," Cris said, echoing Fred.**

"That's true," Fred said kissing her head.

**"Yeah," said Ron, "yeah, I suppose… well, we'd better get our trunks packed, hadn't we?"**

**It was odd how widely their possessions seemed to have scattered themselves since they had arrived. It took them most of the afternoon to retrieve their books and belongings from all over the house and stow them back inside their school trunks. Cris noticed that Ron kept moving his prefects badge around, first placing it on his bedside table, then putting it into his jeans pocket, then taking it out and lying it on his folded robes, as though to see the effect of the red on the black. **

Ron blushed at that, he didn't know that she had noticed.

**Only when Fred and George dropped in and offered to attach it to his forehead with a Permanent Sticking Charm did he wrap it tenderly in his maroon socks and lock it in his trunk.**

"We wouldn't have actually done it." George said.

"I wouldn't have let you." Cris said with a grin.

**Mrs. Weasley returned from Diagon Alley around six o'clock, laden with books and carrying a long package wrapped in thick brown paper that Ron took from her with a moan of longing.**

"**Never mind unwrapping it now, people are arriving for dinner, I want you all downstairs," she said, but the moment she was out of sight Ron ripped off the paper in a frenzy and examined every inch of his new broom, an ecstatic expression on his face. **

"I should have known you would have opened it." Mrs. Weasley said shaking her head.

**Down in the basement Mrs. Weasley had hung a scarlet banner over the heavily laden dinner table, which read:**

**CONGRATULATIONS RON AND HERMIONE NEW PREFECTS**

**She looked in a better mood than Cris had seen her all holiday.**

"It's because there was good news for a change." Mrs. Weasley said.

**"I thought we'd have a little party, not a sit-down dinner," she told Cris, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny as they entered the room. "Your father and Bill are on their way, Ron. I've sent them both owls and they're thrilled," she added, beaming. Fred rolled his eyes.**

**Sirius, Remus, Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt were already there and Mad-Eye Moody stumped in shortly after Cris had got herself a Butterbeer.**

**"Oh, Alastor, I am glad you're here," said Mrs. Weasley brightly, as Mad-Eye shrugged off his traveling cloak. "We've been wanting to ask you for ages - could you have a look in the writing desk in the drawing room and tell us what's inside it? We haven't wanted to open it just in case it's something really nasty."**

**"No problem, Molly…"**

**Moody's electric-blue eye swiveled upwards and stared fixedly through the ceiling of the kitchen.**

**"Drawing room…" he growled, as the pupil contracted. "Desk in the corner? Yeah, I see it… yeah, it's a Boggart… want me to go up and get rid of it, Molly?" **

"That would have been better." Sirius said. See the image of Cris lying dead still haunted his dreams.

**"No, no, I'll do it myself later," beamed Mrs. Weasley, "you have your drink. We're having a little bit of a celebration, actually…" She gesture d at the scarlet banner. "Fourth prefect in the family!" she said fondly, ruffling Ron's hair.**

**"Prefect, eh?" growled Moody, his normal eye on Ron and his magical eye swiveling around to gaze into the side of his head. Cris had the very uncomfortable feeling it was looking at her and moved away towards Sirius and Remus.**

**"Well, congratulations," said Moody, still glaring at Ron with his normal eye, "authority figures always attract trouble, but I suppose Dumbledore thinks you can withstand most major jinxes or he wouldn't have appointed you…"**

"Don't worry Ron, that's just his sense humor." Remus said.

"You do have a very strange sense of humor." Tonks said to her mentor.

**Ron looked rather startled at this view of the matter but was saved the trouble of responding by the arrival of his father and eldest brother. Mrs. Weasley was in such a good mood she did not even complain that they had brought Mundungus with them; he was wearing a long overcoat that seemed oddly lumpy in unlikely places and declined the offer to remove it and put it with Moody's traveling cloak.**

**"Well, I think a toast is in order," said Mr. Weasley, when everyone had a drink. He raised his goblet. "To Ron and Hermione, the new Gryffindor prefects!"**

**Ron and Hermione beamed as everyone drank to them, and then applauded.**

**"I was never a prefect myself," said Tonks brightly **

"No, neither was eye, we caused too much trouble." Charlie said with a laugh.

"Only because you got us caught." Tonks said.

"No, that'll be your clumsiness." Charlie said.

**from behind Cris as everybody moved towards the table to help themselves to food. Her hair was tomato red and waist-length today; she looked like Ginny's older sister. "My Head of House said I lacked certain necessary qualities."**

**"Like what?" said Ginny, who was choosing a baked potato.**

**"Like the ability to behave myself," said Tonks.**

"Among other things." Charlie said with a wide smile.

**Ginny laughed; Hermione looked as though she did not know whether to smile or not and compromised by taking an extra-large gulp of Butterbeer and choking on it.**

**"What about you, Sirius?" Ginny asked, thumping Hermione on the back.**

**Sirius, who was right beside Cris, let out his usual bark-like laugh.**

**"No one would have made me a prefect, I spent too much time in detention with James. Lupin was the good boy, he got the badge."**

"I knew that would make you feel better." Sirius said.

"Thanks," Cris said with a smile.

**"I think Dumbledore might have hoped I would be able to exercise some control over my best friends," said Remus. "I need scarcely say that I failed dismally."**

**Cris' mood suddenly lifted. Her father had not been a prefect either. All at once the party seemed much more enjoyable; she loaded up her plate, feeling doubly fond of everyone in the room.**

**Ron was rhapsodizing about his new broom to anybody who would listen.**

"Really Ron?" Charlie asked with a wide smile.

**"… nought to seventy in ten seconds, not bad, is it? When you think the Comet Two Ninety's only nought to sixty and that's with a decent tailwind according to Which Broomstick?"**

**Hermione was talking very earnestly to Remus about her view of elf rights.**

**"I mean, it's the same kind of nonsense as werewolf segregation, isn't it? It all stems from this horrible thing wizards have of thinking they're superior to other creatures…"**

"Very wide conversation topics you have going." Lily J said.

"Well there was a big group." Cris said.

**Mrs. Weasley and Bill were having their usual argument about Bill's hair.**

**"… getting really out of hand, and you're so good-looking, it would look much better shorter, wouldn't it, Cris?" Cris looked over and decided to have a bit of fun. **

"Oh dear god," Robin said.

"**Actually I think it looks sexy as it is. Don't cut it Bill." Cris said. Suddenly the room fell quiet as everyone turned to stare at her. She suddenly burst out laughing followed by Sirius, Remus and the twins. **

"**Good one!" they called. **

The room busted out laughing.

"I am glad you said zat Cris." Fleur said with a smile.

"I figured you would." Cris said.

"**But seriously, don't cut it." Cris said. Bill nodded though he was as red as his hair. **

"**That is something your mum would say, Cris." Remus said. Cris smiled, that's what she was aiming for. **

"Oh dear god," Prongs said with a laugh.

"You really are like me." Lily said.

"At times," Sirius said.

**Cris slid away now that everyone was now getting over their laughing to where Fred and George, who were huddled in a corner with Mundungus. **

**Mundungus stopped talking when he saw Cris, but Fred winked and beckoned Cris closer.**

**"It's okay," he told Mundungus, "we can trust Cris, she's our financial backer."**

**"Look what Dung's got us," said George, holding out his hand to Cris. It was full of what looked like shriveled black pods. A faint rattling noise was coming from them, even though they were completely stationary.**

"How did he get those?" Neville asked.

"I have no idea." George said.

**"Venomous Tentacula seeds," said George. "We need them for the Skiving Snackboxes but they're a Class C Non-Tradable Substance so we've been having a bit of trouble getting hold of them."**

**"Ten Galleons the lot, then Dung?" said Fred.**

**"Wiv all the trouble I went to to get 'em?" said Mundungus, his saggy, bloodshot eyes stretching even wider. "I'm sorry, lads, but I'm not taking a Knut under twenty."**

**"Dung likes his little joke," Fred said to Cris.**

**"Yeah, his best one so far has been six Sickles for a bag of Knarl quills," said George. **

"That is crazy." Robin said.

**"Be careful," Cris warned them quietly.**

**"What?" said Fred. "Mum's busy cooing over Prefect Ron, we're okay."**

**"But Moody could have his eye on you," Cris pointed out.**

"Very true," Charlie said.

"She's is turning into a nice little marauder." Prongs whispered.

"Minus the pranks." Moony whispered.

"I would rather her do the pranks." Lily whispered.

**Mundungus looked nervously over his shoulder.**

**"Good point, that," he grunted. "All right, lads, ten it is, if you'll take 'em quick."**

**"Cheers, Cris!" said Fred delightedly, when Mundungus had emptied his pockets into the twins' outstretched hands and scuttled off towards the food. "We'd better get these upstairs… by the way, brilliant joke, loved it." **

"It was pretty good wasn't it." Cris said.

"It was definitely something I would have done." Lily said with a smile.

**Cris watched them go, feeling slightly giddy, blush covering her cheeks then a feeling of uneasiness filled her. It had just occurred to her that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley would want to know how Fred and George were financing their joke shop business when, as was inevitable, they finally found out about it. Giving the twins her Triwizard winnings had seemed a simple thing to do at the time, but what if it led to another family row and a Percy like estrangement? Would Mrs. Weasley still feel that Cris was as good as her daughter if she found out she had made it possible for Fred and George to start a career she thought quite unsuitable?**

**Standing where the twins had left her, with nothing but a guilty weight in the pit of her stomach for company, Cris caught the sound of her own name. Kingsley Shacklebolt's deep voice was audible even over the surrounding chatter.**

**"… why Dumbledore didn't make Potter a prefect?" said Kingsley.**

**"He'll have had his reasons," replied Remus.**

"I didn't reason you heard us." Kingsley said. Cris shrugged she didn't mean to eavesdrop.

**"But it would've shown confidence in her. It's what I'd've done," persisted Kingsley, "specially with the Daily Prophet having a go at her every few days…"**

**Cris did not look round; she did not want Remus or Kingsley to know she had heard. Though not remotely hungry, she followed Mundungus back towards the table. Her pleasure in the party had evaporated as quickly as it had come; she wished she were upstairs in bed.**

**Mad-Eye Moody was sniffing at a chicken-leg with what remained of his nose; evidently he could not detect any trace of poison, because he then tore a strip off it with his teeth.**

**"… the handles made of Spanish oak with anti-jinx varnish and in-built vibration control -" Ron was saying to Tonks. **

"Or course you're still talking about it." Robin said with a shake of her head.

**Mrs. Weasley yawned widely.**

**"Well, I think I'll sort out that Boggart before I turn in… Arthur, I don't want this lot up too late, all right? Night, Cris, dear."**

**She left the kitchen. Cris set down her plate and wondered whether she could follow her without attracting attention.**

**"You all right, Potter?" grunted Moody.**

**"Yeah, fine," lied Cris.**

**Moody took a swig from his hipflask, his electric-blue eye staring sideways at Cris.**

"I knew you were lying, your eyes got a bit wider." Moody said. Cris blushed at that, she had hoped he didn't know she lied.

**"Come here, I've got something that might interest you," he said.**

**From an inner pocket of his robes Moody pulled a very tattered old wizarding photograph.**

**"Original Order of the Phoenix," growled Moody.**

"Don't show her that!" Robin cried.

"It'll just depress her." Remus said.

**"Found it last night when I was looking for my spare Invisibility Cloak, seeing as Podmore hasn't had the manners to return my best one… thought people might like to see it."**

**Cris took the photograph. A small crowd of people, some waving at her, others lifting their glasses, looked back up at her.**

**"There's me," said Moody, unnecessarily pointing at himself. The Moody in the picture was unmistakable, though his hair was slightly less grey and his nose was intact. "And there's Dumbledore beside me, Dedalus Diggle on the other side… that's Marlene McKinnon, she was killed two weeks after this was taken, they got her whole family. **

**That's Frank and Alice Longbottom -"**

Neville looked down and Lily turned to cry in Prong's shoulder.

**Cris' stomach, already uncomfortable, clenched as she looked at Alice Longbottom; she knew her round, friendly face very well, even though she had never met her, because she was the image of her son, Neville.**

**"— poor devils," growled Moody. "Better dead than what happened to them… and that's Emmeline Vance, you've met her, and that there's Lupin and his twin Robin, obviously… Benjy Fenwick, he copped it too, we only ever found bits of him… shift aside there," he added, poking the picture, and the little photographic people edged sideways, so that those who were partially obscured could move to the front.**

**"That's Edgar Bones… brother of Amelia Bones, they got him and his family, too, he was a great wizard… Sturgis Podmore, blimey, he looks young… Caradoc Dearborn, vanished six months after this, we never found his body… Hagrid, of course, looks exactly the same as ever… Elphias Doge, you've met him, I'd forgotten he used to wear that stupid hat… **

**Gideon Prewett, it took five Death Eaters to kill him and his brother Fabian, they fought like heroes… budge along, budge along…"**

Mrs. Weasley took a deep breath she hated hearing about them, she loved them dearly but missed them too much.

**The little people in the photograph jostled among themselves and those hidden right at the back appeared at the forefront of the picture.**

**"That's Dumbledore's brother Aberforth, only time I ever met him, strange bloke… that's Dorcas Meadowes, Voldemort killed her personally… Sirius, when he still had short hair… and… there you go, thought that would interest you!"**

**Cris' heart turned over. Her mother and father were beaming up at her, sitting on either side of a small, watery-eyed man whom Cris recognized at once as Wormtail, the one who had betrayed her parents' whereabouts to Voldemort and so helped to bring about their deaths.**

"Why can't he walk out?" Tonks asked.

"I don't know." Remus said.

**"Eh?" said Moody.**

**Cris looked up into Moody's heavily scarred and pitted face. Evidently Moody was under the impression he had just given Cris a bit of a treat.**

**"Yeah," said Cris, once again attempting to grin. "Er… listen, I've just remembered, I haven't packed my…"**

"I knew you were uncomfortable." Sirius said.

"Thanks for that by the way." Cris said.

**She was spared the trouble of inventing an object she had not packed. Sirius had just said, "What's that you've got there, Mad-Eye?" and Moody had turned towards him. **

**Cris crossed the kitchen, slipped through the door and up the stairs before anyone could call her back.**

**She did not know why it had been such a shock; she had seen pictures of her parents before, after all, and she had met Wormtail but to have them sprung on her like that, when she was least expecting it… no one would like that, she thought angrily…**

"Sorry lassie, I thought you would like to see it is all." Mad-Eye said.

"He wouldn't hurt you on purpose Cris," Tonks said. Cris nodded her head; it was just unexpected is all.

**And then, to see them surrounded by all those other happy faces… Benjy Fenwick, who had been found in bits, and Gideon Prewett, who had died like a hero, and the Longbottom's, who had been tortured into madness… all waving happily out of the photograph forever more, not knowing that they were doomed… well, Moody might find that interesting… she, Cris, found it disturbing…**

**Cris tiptoed up the stairs in the hall past the stuffed elf-heads, glad to be on her own again, but as she approached the first landing she heard noises. Someone was sobbing in the drawing room.**

**"Hello?" Cris said.**

**There was no answer but the sobbing continued. She climbed the remaining stairs two at a time, walked across the landing and opened the drawing-room door.**

**Someone was cowering against the dark wall, her wand in her hand, her whole body shaking with sobs. Sprawled on the dusty old carpet in a patch of moonlight, clearly dead, was Ron.**

"But, I'm downstairs." Ron said.

"It's a boggart," Bill said.

"Mum?" Ron said.

"Let's just get this over with." Mrs. Weasley said.

**All the air seemed to vanish from Cris' lungs; she felt as though she were falling through the floor; her brain turned icy cold - Ron dead, no, it couldn't be-**

**But wait a moment, it couldn't be - Ron was downstairs -**

**"Mrs. Weasley?" Cris croaked.**

**"R - r - riddikulus!" Mrs. Weasley sobbed, pointing her shaking wand at Ron's body.**

**Crack.**

**Ron's body turned into Bill's, spread-eagled on his back, his eyes wide open and empty. Mrs. Weasley sobbed harder than ever.**

Her children left their seats and gathered around their mother to offer her comfort.

**"R -riddikulus!" she sobbed again.**

**Crack.**

**Mr. Weasley's body replaced Bill's, his glasses askew, a trickle of blood running down his face. **

Cris flinched at that thinking of the attack on him before they were transported into this room. Sirius was looking at her and motioned for Cris to come over. She did and Sirius wrapped his arms around her.

**"No!" Mrs. Weasley moaned. "No… riddikulus! Riddikulus! RIDDlKULUS"**

**Crack. Dead twins. Crack. Dead Percy.**

Percy stood with his hand on his mother's shoulder and winced when McGonagall said that.

**Crack. Dead Cris…**

Nearly the whole room flinched at that and Sirius gripped her tighter to him, afraid she'll disappear.

**"Mrs. Weasley, just get out of here!" shouted Cris, staring down at her own dead body on the floor. "Let someone else -"**

**"What's going on?"**

**Remus had come running into the room, closely followed by Sirius, with Moody stumping along behind them. Remus looked from Mrs. Weasley to the dead Cris on the floor and seemed to understand in an instant. Pulling out his own wand, he said, very firmly and clearly:**

**"Riddikulus!"**

**Cris' body vanished. A silvery orb hung in the air over the spot where it had lain. Remus waved his wand once more and the orb vanished in a puff of smoke.**

"So that's still my boggart?" Moony asked.

"It hasn't changed," Remus said.

**"Oh - oh - oh!" gulped Mrs. Weasley, and she broke into a storm of crying, her face in her hands.**

**"Molly," said Remus bleakly, walking over to her. "Molly don't…"**

**Next second, she was sobbing her heart out on Remus' shoulder.**

**"Molly, it was just a Boggart," he said soothingly, patting her on the head, "just a stupid Boggart…"**

**"I see them d-d - dead all the time!" Mrs. Weasley moaned into his shoulder. "All the't -'t - time! I d - d - dream about it…"**

**Sirius was staring at the patch of carpet where the Boggart, pretending to be Cris body, had lain. **

"It terrified me." Sirius whispered in her ear

**Moody was looking at Cris, who avoided his gaze. She had a funny feeling Moody's magical eye had followed her all the way out of the kitchen.**

**"D-d - don't tell Arthur," Mrs. Weasley was gulping now, mopping her eyes frantically with her cuffs. "I d - d - don't want him to know… being silly…"**

**Remus handed her a handkerchief and she blew her nose.**

**"Cris, I'm so sorry. What must you think of me?" she said shakily. "Not even able to get rid of a Boggart…" **

"You saw how long it took for me to deal with a dementors, it's alright." Cris said.

**"Don't be stupid," said Cris, trying to smile.**

**"I'm just's -'s - so worried," she said, tears spilling out of her eyes again. "Half the f - f - family's in the Order, it'll b - b - be a miracle if we all come through this… **

The room winced at that, Percy had been killed though they didn't know how.

**and P - P - Percy's not talking to us… what if something d-d - dreadful happens and we've never m - m - made it up with him? And what's going to happen if Arthur and I get killed, who's g - g - going to look after Ron and Ginny?"**

"We will, they won't go without a home Molly." Robin said. Mrs. Weasley nodded gratefully; she didn't want her youngest children left without parents.

**"Molly that's enough," said Remus firmly. "This isn't like last time. The Order are better prepared, we've got a head start, we know what Voldemort's up to -"**

**Mrs. Weasley gave a little squeak of fright at the sound of the name.**

**"Oh, Molly, come on, it's about time you got used to hearing his name - look, I can't promise no one's going to get hurt, nobody can promise that, but we're much better off than we were last time. You weren't in the Order then, you don't understand. Last time we were outnumbered twenty to one by the Death Eaters and they were picking us off one by one…"**

"That doesn't sound good at all." Gwen said.

"It was horrible, especially for James and Lily and Alice and Frank." Remus said.

**Cris thought of the photograph again, of her parents' beaming faces. She knew Moody was still watching her.**

**"Don't worry about Percy" said Sirius abruptly. "He'll come round. It's only a matter of time before Voldemort moves into the open; once he does, the whole Ministry's going to be begging us to forgive them. And I'm not sure I'll be accepting their apology," he added bitterly.**

"And you have a reason behind that as well." Charlie said.

**"And as for who's going to look after Ron and Ginny if you and Arthur died," said Remus, smiling slightly, "what do you think we'd do, let them starve?"**

"Please don't do that." Ron said. He was tempting to lighten the mood and it kind of worked too seeing as some people chuckled.

**Mrs. Weasley smiled tremulously.**

**"Being silly," she muttered again, mopping her eyes.**

**But Cris, closing her bedroom door behind her some ten minutes later, could not think Mrs. Weasley silly. She could still see her parents beaming up at her from the tattered old photograph, unaware that their lives, like so many of those around them, were drawing to a close. The image of the Boggart posing as the corpse of each member of Mrs. Weasley's family in turn kept flashing before her eyes.**

**Without warning, the scar on her forehead seared with pain again and her stomach churned horribly.**

**"Cut it out," she said firmly, rubbing the scar as the pain receded.**

**"First sign of madness, talking to your own head," said a sly voice from the empty picture on the wall. **

"Did you think you were going crazy?" Tonks asked with a smile.

"No, I knew the portrait was there." Cris said.

**Cris ignored it. She felt older than she had ever felt in her life and it seemed extraordinary to her that barely an hour ago she had been worried about a joke shop and who had got a prefects badge.**

"You're just growing up too fast, no child should need that on them." Robin said. Cris looked over at her and smiled.

"That's the chapter." McGonagall said handing the book to Snape.


	11. Chapter 10: Luna Lovegood

"**Chapter 10: Luna Lovegood," **Snape read.

"That's me!" Luna said with her dreamy smile.

"Yes it is," Draco said smiling back at her.

**Cris had a troubled night's sleep. Her parents wove in and out of her dreams, never speaking; Mrs. Weasley sobbed over Kreacher's dead body, watched by Ron and Hermione who were wearing crowns, and yet again Cris found herself walking down a corridor ending in a locked door.**

"What in the world is that?" Lily asked.

"I don't know." Cris said.

"You don't have a clue?" Prongs asked.

"Not really." Cris said.

"I'm sure you'll find out." Moony said.

**She awoke abruptly with her scar prickling to find Ron already dressed and talking to her.**

**"… ****better hurry up, Mum's going ballistic, she says we're going to miss the train."**

"It can't be worse than second year, could it?" Lily asked.

"Well, Ron and I didn't crash into the barrier." Cris said.

"Well that's a good thing." Prongs said.

**There was a lot of commotion in the house. From what she heard as she dressed at top speed, Cris gathered that Fred and George had bewitched their trunks to fly downstairs to save the bother of carrying them, with the result that they had hurtled straight into Ginny and knocked her down two flights of stairs into the hall; Mrs. Black and Mrs. Weasley were both screaming at the top of their voices. **

"She could have gotten hurt!" Lily shrieked.

"I was fine," Ginny said.

"That time anyway." Robin said.

**"****- COULD HAVE DONE HER A SERIOUS INJURY, YOU IDIOTS -"**

"Maybe could have done without the idiots part." Robin said.

**"****- FILTHY HALF-BREEDS, BESMIRCHING THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS -"**

"And there goes dear sweet mum again." Padfoot said.

**Hermione came hurrying into the room looking flustered, just as Cris was putting on her trainers. Hedwig was swaying on her shoulder, and she was carrying a squirming Crookshanks in her arms.**

**"Mum and Dad just sent Hedwig back." The owl fluttered obligingly over and perched on top of her cage. "Are you ready yet?"**

**"****Nearly. Is Ginny all right?" Cris asked, shoving on her glasses into her coat pocket.**

"That's kind of you." Lily said.

"Well, she is like my sister." Cris said smiling over at Ginny.

"Well you are a part of the family." Mrs. Weasley said.

**"****Mrs. Weasley's patched her up," said Hermione. "But now Mad-Eye's complaining that we can't leave unless Sturgis Podmore's here, otherwise the guard will be one short.'**

**"****Guard?" said Cris. "We have to go to King's Cross with a guard?" **

"Well yeah, there are people after you; I'd be surprised if they didn't." Lily said.

"I know, I just wasn't expecting it." Cris said.

**"****You have to go to King's Cross with a guard," Hermione corrected her.**

**"****Why?" said Cris irritably. "I thought Voldemort was supposed to be lying low, or are you telling me he's going to jump out from behind a dustbin to try and do me in?" **

"That is kind of funny to think about." Padfoot said.

"I can't really picture Voldemort doing that." Prongs said.

"I can't either." Cris said.

**"****I don't know, it's just what Mad-Eye says," said Hermione distractedly, looking at her watch, "but if we don't leave soon we're definitely going to miss the train…"**

**"****WILL YOU LOT GET DOWN HERE NOW, PLEASE!" Mrs. Weasley bellowed and Hermione jumped as though scalded and hurried out of the room. Cris seized Hedwig, stuffed her unceremoniously into her cage, and set off downstairs after Hermione, dragging her trunk.**

**Mrs. Black's portrait was howling with rage but nobody was bothering to close the curtains over her; all the noise in the hall was bound to rouse her again, anyway.**

**"****Cris, you're to come with me and Tonks," shouted Mrs. Weasley - over the repeated screeches of "MUDBLOODS! SCUM! CREATURES OF DIRT!" - "Leave your trunk and your owl, Alastor's going to deal with the luggage… oh, for heaven's sake, Sirius, Dumbledore said no!"**

"Dumbledore just shook his head, he should have known that Sirius wouldn't stay.

"What are you doing Pads?" Prongs asked.

"Knowing dad, exactly the opposite of what he's told to do." Keiran said.

"That seems about right." Moony said laughing. Sirius and Padfoot started pouting and Snape continued reading.

**A bear-like black dog had appeared at Cris' side as she was clambering over the various trunks cluttering the hall to get to Mrs. Weasley.**

"Of course he did that, he wanted to make sure that she got there alright." Robin said.

"I wouldn't be doing my job otherwise." Sirius said.

**"****Oh honestly…" said Mrs. Weasley despairingly. "Well, on your own head be it!"**

**She wrenched open the front door and stepped out into the weak September sunlight. Cris and the dog followed her. The door slammed behind them and Mrs. Black's screeches were cut off instantly.**

**"****Where's Tonks?" Cris said, looking round as they went down the stone steps of number twelve, which vanished the moment they reached the pavement.**

**"****She's waiting for us just up here," said Mrs. Weasley stiffly, averting her eyes from the lolloping black dog beside Cris.**

**An old woman greeted them on the corner. She had tightly curled grey hair and wore a purple hat shaped like a pork pie.**

"Well, that's a good disguise." Padfoot said.

"Yeah, everyone underestimates old women." Tonks said with a smile.

"You should have seen it when she was impersonating McGonagall." Charlie said. Bill and Charlie shivered at the thought; they were caught setting pranks by Tonks before.

**"****Wotcher, Cris," she said, winking. "Better hurry up, hadn't we, Molly?" she added, checking her watch.**

**"****I know, I know," moaned Mrs. Weasley, lengthening her stride, "but Mad-Eye wanted to wait for Sturgis… if only Arthur could have got us cars from the Ministry again… but Fudge won't let him borrow so much as an empty ink bottle these days… how Muggles can stand traveling without magic." **

"It's what we're used to. If we know the other way like you guys use then we might think this way is slow." Gwen said.

"Very true," Hermione said.

**But the great black dog gave a joyful bark and gamboled around them, snapping at pigeons and chasing its own tail. Cris couldn't help laughing. Sirius had been trapped inside for a very long time. Mrs. Weasley pursed her lips in an almost Aunt Petunia-ish way.**

"Sorry," Cris said.

"It's alright." Mrs. Weasley said.

"So Sirius was actually acting like a dog?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, it was funny." Cris said.

**It took them twenty minutes to reach King's Cross on foot and nothing more eventful happened during that time than Sirius scaring a couple of cats for Cris' entertainment.**

"Or was it Sirius'?" Robin asked.

"I think it was both." Fred said.

**Once inside the station they lingered casually beside the barrier between platforms nine and ten until the coast was clear, then each of them leaned against it in turn and fell easily through on to platform nine and three-quarters, where the Hogwarts Express stood belching sooty steam over a platform packed with departing students and their families. Cris inhaled the familiar smell and felt her spirits soar… she was really going back…**

**"****I hope the others make it in time," said Mrs. Weasley anxiously, staring behind her at the wrought-iron arch spanning the platform, through which new arrivals would come.**

**"****Nice dog, Cris!" called a tall boy with dreadlocks.**

**"****Thanks, Lee," said Cris, grinning, as Sirius wagged his tail frantically.**

"Just like Sirius," Prongs said laughing.

**"****Oh good," said Mrs. Weasley, sounding relieved, "here's Alastor with the luggage, look…"**

**A porter's cap pulled low over his mismatched eyes, Moody came limping through the archway pushing a trolley loaded with their trunks.**

**"****All okay," he muttered to Mrs. Weasley and Tonks, "don't think we were followed…"**

**Seconds later, Mr. Weasley emerged on to the platform with Ron and Hermione. They had almost unloaded Moody's luggage trolley when Fred, George and Ginny turned up with Remus.**

**"****No trouble?" growled Moody.**

**"****Nothing," said Remus. **

"Which translates to nothing I can't handle." Robin said with a smile. Fred, George and Ginny smiled, that journey was a lot of fun.

**"I'll still be reporting Sturgis to Dumbledore," said Moody, "that's the second time he's not turned up in a week. Getting as unreliable as Mundungus."**

"That wasn't like him either." Robin said.

"What happened to him?" Lily asked.

"We think he was under the Imperious." Mad-Eye said gruffly.

**"Well, look after yourselves," said Remus, shaking hands all round. He reached Cris last and gave her a hug. "You too Cris. Be careful."**

**"Yeah, keep your head down and your eyes peeled," said Moody, shaking Cris' hand. "And don't forget, all of you - careful what you put in writing. If in doubt, don't put it in a letter at all." **

**"It's been great meeting all of you," said Tonks, hugging Hermione and Ginny "We'll see you soon, I expect."**

"That we did." Tonks said.

**A warning whistle sounded; the students still on the platform started hurrying on to the train.**

**"Quick, quick," said Mrs. Weasley distractedly, hugging them at random and catching Cris twice. "Write… be good… if you've forgotten anything we'll send it on… on to the train, now, hurry…"**

**For one brief moment, the great black dog reared on to its hind legs and placed its front paws on Cris' shoulders, but Mrs. Weasley shoved Cris away towards the train door, hissing, "For heaven's sake, act more like a dog, Sirius!"**

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Don't worry, I understand." Sirius said.

**"See you!" Cris called out of the open window as the train began to move, while Ron, Hermione and Ginny waved beside him. The figures of Tonks, Remus, Moody and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley shrank rapidly but the black dog was bounding alongside the window, wagging its tail; blurred people on the platform were laughing to see it chasing the train, then they rounded a bend, and Sirius was gone.**

**"He shouldn't have come with us," said Hermione in a worried voice.**

"I was fine," Sirius said.

"I don't know about that, my father suspected it may have been you." Draco said.

"May have been, so he does not know for sure." Sirius said.

**"Oh, lighten up," said Ron, "he hasn't seen daylight for months, poor bloke."**

**"Well," said Fred, clapping his hands together, "can't stand around chatting all day, we've got business to discuss with Lee. See you later," and he and George disappeared down the corridor to the right. But before they left they gave Cris a wink and she turned away to avoid blushing.**

"Ah," cooed the girls.

**The train was gathering still more speed, so that the houses outside the window flashed past, and they swayed where they stood.**

**"Shall we go and find a compartment, then?" Cris asked.**

**Ron and Hermione exchanged looks.**

"Oh yeah, the prefects get their own cabin." Lily said.

"Don't worry; she has other friends to sit with though it might be weird at first." Prongs said.

"It was definitely different." Cris said.

**"Er," said Ron.**

**"We're - well - Ron and I are supposed to go into the prefect carriage," Hermione said awkwardly.**

**Ron wasn't looking at Cris; he seemed to have become intensely interested in the fingernails on his left hand.**

**"Oh," said Cris. "Right. Fine."**

**"I don't think we'll have to stay there all journey," said Hermione quickly. "Our letters said we just get instructions from the Head Boy and Girl and then patrol the corridors from time to time."**

**"Fine," said Cris again. "Well, I - I might see you later, then."**

"Did they?" Padfoot asked.

"Later on," Cris said.

**"Yeah, definitely," said Ron, casting a shifty, anxious look at Cris. "It's a pain having to go down there, I'd rather - but we have to -I mean, I'm not enjoying it, I'm not Percy," he finished defiantly. **

"We wouldn't want you to be like him either." Fred said.

"Yeah, he's a prat, you aren't." George said.

"We like you the way you are." Cris said with a smile.

**"I know you're not," said Cris and she grinned. But as Hermione and Ron dragged their trunks, Crookshanks and a caged Pigwidgeon off towards the engine end of the train, Cris felt an odd sense of loss. She had never traveled on the Hogwarts Express without Ron.**

"Yeah, you were always together." Neville said.

"I know, it was weird, like a missing piece." Cris said.

"I know what you mean." Ron said. They shared a smile and Snape continued reading.

**"Come on," Ginny told her, "if we get a move on we'll be able to save them places."**

**"Right," said Cris, picking up Hedwig's cage in one hand and the handle of her trunk in the other. They struggled off down the corridor, peering through the glass-paneled doors into the compartments they passed, which were already full. Cris could not help noticing that a lot of people stared back at her with great interest and that several of them nudged their neighbors and pointed her out. After she had met this behavior in five consecutive carriages she remembered that the Daily Prophet had been telling its readers all summer what a lying show-off she was. She wondered dully whether the people now staring and whispering believed the stories.**

**In the very last carriage they met Neville Longbottom, Cris' fellow fifth-year Gryffindor, his round face shining with the effort of pulling his trunk along and maintaining a one-handed grip on his struggling toad, Trevor. **

"You know, since he likes to escape so much you should call him Houdini." Cris said.

"Yeah, that might be a better name for him." Hermione said in agreement.

**"Hi, Cris" he panted. "Hi, Ginny… everywhere's full… I can't find a seat…"**

**"What are you talking about?" said Ginny, who had squeezed past Neville to peer into the compartment behind him. "There's room in this one, there's only Loony Lovegood in here —"**

"Sorry," Ginny said.

"It's alright, I don't really mind it." Luna said.

"But still, people shouldn't call you that." Gwen said.

"I find that I don't really care." Luna said.

**Neville mumbled something about not wanting to disturb anyone.**

**"Don't be silly," said Ginny, laughing, "she's all right."**

**She slid the door open and pulled her trunk inside. Cris and Neville followed.**

**"Hi, Luna," said Ginny, "is it okay if we take these seats?"**

**The girl beside the window looked up. She had straggly, waist-length, dirty blonde hair, very pale eyebrows and protuberant eyes that gave her a permanently surprised look. Cris knew at once why Neville had chosen to pass this compartment by. The girl gave off an aura of distinct dottiness. Perhaps it was the fact that she had stuck her wand behind her left ear for safekeeping,**

"Don't put your wand there!" Moody exclaimed.

"We got it Mad-Eye." Tonks said.

**or that she had chosen to wear a necklace of Butterbeer corks, or that she was reading a magazine upside-down. Her eyes ranged over Neville and came to rest on Cris. She nodded.**

**"Thanks," said Ginny, smiling at her.**

**Cris and Neville stowed the three trunks and Hedwig's cage in the luggage rack and sat down.**

**Luna watched them over her upside-down magazine, which was called The Quibbler. She did not seem to need to blink as much as normal humans. She stared and stared at Cris, who had taken the seat opposite her and now wished she hadn't.**

**"Had a good summer, Luna?" Ginny asked.**

**"Yes," said Luna dreamily, without taking her eyes off Cris. "Yes, it was quite enjoyable, you know. You're Cristal Potter," she added.**

**"I know I am, but call me Cris" said Cris. **

"That's better than first year." Bill said with a laugh. Cris turned and glared at him.

"What did she say?" Gwen asked.

"She was asked if she was Cris and she said Oh, her." Charlie said.

"I wasn't used to people knowing me on sight, what would you have done?" Cris asked.

"Probably how do you know my name." Gwen suggested.

"I was eleven." Cris said.

**Neville chuckled. Luna turned her pale eyes on him instead.**

**"And I don't know who you are."**

**"I'm nobody," said Neville hurriedly.**

"No you aren't!" cried some of the room.

"Don't you dare say that again." Ginny said. Neville nodded and Ginny kissed his cheek.

**"No you're not," said Ginny sharply. "Neville Longbottom - Luna Lovegood. Luna's in my year, but in Ravenclaw."**

**"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," said Luna in a singsong voice.**

**She raised her upside-down magazine high enough to hide her face and fell silent. Cris and Neville looked at each other with their eyebrows raised. Ginny suppressed a giggle.**

**The train rattled onwards, speeding them out into open country. It was an odd, unsettled sort of day; one moment the carriage was full of sunlight and the next they were passing beneath ominously grey clouds.**

**"Guess what I got for my birthday?" said Neville.**

**"Another Remembrall?" said Cris, remembering the marble-like device Neville's grandmother had sent him in an effort to improve his abysmal memory.**

"I hope not." Lily said.

"It wasn't, it was something much better." Neville said.

**"No," said Neville. "I could do with one, though, I lost the old one ages ago… no, look at this…"**

**He dug the hand that was not keeping a firm grip on Trevor into his schoolbag and after a little bit of rummaging pulled out what appeared to be a small grey cactus in a pot, except that it was covered with what looked like boils rather than spines.**

"A Mimbulus Mimbletonia," Robin said.

"You were always good with Herbology." Moony said.

"**Mimbulus mimbletonia," he said proudly.**

**Cris stared at the thing. It was pulsating slightly, giving it the rather sinister look of some diseased internal organ. **

"Don't insult it; you never know if it can defend herself." Padfoot said.

**"It's really, really rare," said Neville, beaming. "I don't know if there's one in the greenhouse at Hogwarts, even. I can't wait to show it to Professor Sprout. My Great Uncle Algie got it for me in Assyria. I'm going to see if I can breed from it."**

"She was definitely excited about it." McGonagall said.

**Cris knew that Neville's favorite subject was Herbology but for the life of her she could not see what he would want with this stunted little plant.**

**"Does it - er - do anything?" she asked.**

**"Loads of stuff!" said Neville proudly. "It's got an amazing defensive mechanism. Here, hold Trevor for me…"**

**He dumped the toad into Cris' lap and took a quill from his schoolbag. Luna Lovegood's popping eyes appeared over the top of her upside-down magazine again, to watch what Neville was doing. Neville held the Mimbulus mimbletonia up to his eyes, his tongue between his teeth, chose his spot, and gave the plant a sharp prod with the tip of his quill.**

"That wasn't the best idea." Robin said.

"No kidding," Cris, Neville, Luna and Ginny said.

**Liquid squirted from every boil on the plant; thick, stinking, dark green jets of it. They hit the ceiling, the windows, and spattered Luna Lovegood's magazine; Ginny, who had flung her arms up in front of her face just in time, merely looked as though she was wearing a slimy green hat,**

"Ew," said the girls.

**but Cris, whose hands had been busy preventing Trevor's escape, received a faceful. It smelled like rancid manure.**

"That's disgusting," Lily said.

"I had to wash my face a whole bunch of times." Cris said.

"I bet," Gwen said.

**Neville, whose face and torso were also drenched, shook his head to get the worst out of his eyes.**

**"S - sorry," he gasped. "I haven't tried that before… didn't realize it would be quite so… don't worry, though, Stinksap's not poisonous," he added nervously, as Cris spat a mouthful on to the floor.**

"But it's not the best for your system." Robin said.

**At that precise moment the door of their compartment slid open.**

**"Oh… hello, Cris," said a nervous voice. "Um… bad time?"**

"Yeah, just a bit." Charlie said with a laugh.

**Cris looked up to see Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw seeker standing in the doorway. She was looking grim and like she needed to talk.**

"She was with Cedric, right?" Lily asked. Cris nodded and looked away.

**"Oh… hi," said Cris blankly.**

**"Um…" said Cho. "Well… just thought I'd say hello… bye then."**

**Rather pink in the face, she closed the door and departed. Cris slumped back in her seat. She would have liked to have known why Cho came to seek her out. Maybe it was to find out the truth about Cedric or not. **

**"Never mind," said Ginny bracingly. "Look, we can easily get rid of all this." She pulled out her wand. "Scourgify!"**

"You didn't like her did you?" Lily asked.

"Not really, she was kind of a bitch to me." Ginny said.

"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley said.

**The Stinksap vanished.**

**"Sorry," said Neville again, in a small voice.**

"It's alright, no harm done." Ron said.

**Ron and Hermione did not turn up for nearly an hour, by which time the food trolley had already gone by. Cris, Ginny and Neville had finished their pumpkin pasties and were busy swapping Chocolate Frog Cards when the compartment door slid open and they walked in, accompanied by Crookshanks and a shrilly hooting Pigwidgeon in his cage.**

**"I'm starving," said Ron, stowing Pigwidgeon next to Hedwig, grabbing a Chocolate Frog from Cris and throwing himself into the seat next to her. He ripped open the wrapper, bit off the frog's head and leaned back with his eyes closed as though he had had a very exhausting morning.**

"Well it was." Ron said.

"It can be." Remus said.

**"Well, there are two fifth-year prefects from each house," said Hermione, looking thoroughly disgruntled as she took her seat. "Boy and girl from each."**

**"And guess who's a Slytherin prefect?" said Ron, still with his eyes closed.**

**"Malfoy," replied Cris at once, certain her worst fear would be confirmed.**

**"Course," said Ron bitterly, stuffing the rest of the Frog into his mouth and taking another.**

**"And that complete cow Pansy Parkinson," said Hermione viciously. "How she got to be a prefect when she's thicker than a concussed troll…"**

"That's not how, with Slytherins it's usually by parentage," Dumbledore said.

"Why is it different?" Gwen asked.

"It's different for every house." McGonagall said.

**"Who's Hufflepuff?" Cris asked.**

**"Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott," said Ron thickly.**

**"And Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw," said Hermione.**

**"You went to the Yule Ball with Padma Patil," said a vague voice.**

**Everyone turned to look at Luna Lovegood, who was gazing unblinkingly at Ron over the top of The Quibbler. He swallowed his mouthful of Frog.**

**"Yeah, I know I did," he said, looking mildly surprised.**

**"She didn't enjoy it very much," Luna informed him. "She doesn't think you treated her very well, because you wouldn't dance with her. I don't think I'd have minded," she added thoughtfully, "I don't like dancing very much."**

"Are you dropping a hint?" Draco asked.

"No, just stating a fact." Luna said.

**She retreated behind The Quibbler again. Ron stared at the cover with his mouth hanging open for a few seconds, then looked around at Ginny for some kind of explanation, but Ginny had stuffed her knuckles in her mouth to stop herself giggling. Ron shook his head, bemused, then checked his watch.**

**"We're supposed to patrol the corridors every so often," he told Cris and Neville, "and we can give out punishments if people are misbehaving. I can't wait to get Crabbe and Goyle for something."**

"I was tempted too, but I didn't want them to do the smart thing and tell my father, I don't know what he would have done." Draco said.

"It probably would have been bad." Cris said.

**"You're not supposed to abuse your position, Ron!" said Hermione sharply.**

**"Yeah, right, because Malfoy won't abuse it at all," said Ron sarcastically.**

**"So you're going to descend to his level?"**

**"No, I'm just going to make sure I get his mates before he gets mine." **

"I never did, did I?" Draco asked.

"Well there were a few times where you took points but you never did anything too bad." Hermione said.

"That's not too bad." Moony said.

**"For heaven's sake, Ron -"**

**"I'll make Goyle do lines, it'll kill him, he hates writing," said Ron happily. He lowered his voice to Goyle's low grunt and, screwing up his face in a look of pained concentration, mimed writing in midair. "I… must… not… look… like… a… baboon's… backside."**

The group started laughing almost immediately, it took them a few minutes to calm back down for Snape to continue reading.

**Everyone laughed, but nobody laughed harder than Luna Lovegood. She let out a scream of mirth that caused Hedwig to wake up and flap her wings indignantly and Crookshanks to leap up into the luggage rack, hissing. Luna laughed so hard her magazine slipped out of her grasp, slid down her legs and on to the floor.**

**"That was funny!"**

**Her prominent eyes swam with tears as she gasped for breath, staring at Ron. Utterly nonplussed, he looked around at the others, who were now laughing at the expression on Ron's face and at the ludicrously prolonged laughter of Luna Lovegood, who was rocking backwards and forwards, clutching her sides.**

**"Are you taking the mickey?" said Ron, frowning at her.**

**"Baboon's… backside!" she choked, holding her ribs.**

**Everyone else was watching Luna laughing, but Cris glancing at the magazine on the floor, noticed something that made her dive for it. Upside-down it had been hard to tell what the picture on the front was, but Cris now realized it was a fairly bad cartoon of Cornelius Fudge; Cris only recognized him because of the lime-green bowler hat. One of Fudge's hands was clenched around a bag of gold; the other hand was throttling a goblin. The cartoon was captioned: How Far Will Fudge Go to Gain Gringotts?**

"I wouldn't do that." Fudge said.

"Wouldn't put it past him though." Cris whispered.

**Beneath this were listed the titles of other articles inside the magazine.**

**Corruption in the Quidditch League:**

**How the Tornados are Taking Control**

**Secrets of the Ancient Runes Revealed**

**Sirius Black: Villain or Victim?**

"Okay, now that I want to read." Padfoot said.

**"Can I have a look at this?" Cris asked Luna eagerly.**

**She nodded, still gazing at Ron, breathless with laughter.**

**Cris opened the magazine and scanned the index. Until this moment she had completely forgotten the magazine Kingsley had handed Mr. Weasley to give to Sirius, but it must have been this edition of The Quibbler.**

**She found the page, and turned excitedly to the article.**

**This, too, was illustrated by a rather bad cartoon; in fact, Cris would not have known it was supposed to be Sirius if it hadn't been captioned. Sirius was standing on a pile of human bones with his wand out. The headline on the article said:**

**SIRIUS - BLACK AS HE'S PAINTED?**

_**Notorious mass murderer or innocent singing sensation?**_

"Oh dear sweet Merlin," Prongs said laughing.

"I sing just fine!" Padfoot exclaimed.

"No you don't," the group said.

**Cris had to read this first sentence several times before she was convinced that she had not misunderstood it. Since when had Sirius been a singing sensation?**

_**For fourteen years Sirius Black has been believed guilty of the mass murder of twelve innocent Muggles and one wizard. Black's audacious escape from Azkaban two years ago has led to the widest manhunt ever conducted by the Ministry of Magic. None of us has ever questioned that he deserves to be recaptured and handed back to the Dementors.**_

_**BUT DOES HE?**_

_**Startling new evidence has recently come to light that Sirius Black may not have committed the crimes for which he was sent to Azkaban. **_

"Well that part is true." Sirius said.

_**In fact, says Doris Purkiss, of 18 Acanthia Way, Little Norton, Black may not even have been present at the killings.**_

_**"What people don't realize is that Sirius Black is a false name," says Mrs. Purkiss. "The man people believe to be Sirius Black is actually Stubby Boardman, lead singer of popular singing group The Hobgoblins, who retired from public life after being struck on the ear by a turnip at a concert in Little Norton Church Hall nearly fifteen years ago. I recognized him the moment I saw his picture in the paper. Now, Stubby couldn't possibly have committed those crimes, because on the day in question he happened to be enjoying a romantic candlelit dinner with me. I have written to the Minister for Magic and am expecting him to give Stubby, alias - Sirius, a full pardon any day now."**_

Everyone started laughing so hard that it took several minutes for the group to quiet down.

"Pads, I didn't know that your name was Stubby Boardman, I would change my name as well." Prongs said.

"I didn't know I changed my name as well." Padfoot said.

**Cris finished the article and busted out laughing, the group turned to her and she motioned for Ginny, Ron and Hermione. They read the article and laughed out as well. Cris stared in disbelief as the other three went back to talking. Perhaps it was a joke, she thought, perhaps the magazine often printed spoof Hems. She flicked back a few pages and found the piece on Fudge. **

"Yes, let's hear about that." Padfoot said with a laugh.

_**Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, denied that he had any plans to take over the running of the Wizarding Bank, Gringotts, when he was elected Minister for Magic five years ago. Fudge has always insisted that he wants nothing more than to 'co-operate peacefully' with the guardians of our gold.**_

_**BUT DOES HE?**_

_**Sources close to the Minister have recently disclosed that Fudge's dearest ambition is to seize control of the goblin gold supplies and that he will not hesitate to use force if need be.**_

"No, Goblins wouldn't give it up that easily." Bill said.

"I wouldn't want a goblin mad, that's for sure." James said.

"Do we want to know?" Lily asked.

"It wasn't us; it was mum, Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron." Al said.

"What did we do?" the trio asked.

"Last book." The future kids said.

_**"It wouldn't be the first time, either," said a Ministry insider. "Cornelius 'Goblin-Crusher' Fudge, that's what his friends call him. If you could hear him when he thinks no one's listening, oh, he's always talking about the goblins he's had done in; he's had them drowned, he's had them dropped off buildings, he's had them poisoned, he's had them cooked in pies…" **_

"That isn't true," Fudge muttered.

**Cris did not read any further. Fudge might have many faults but Cris found it extremely hard to imagine him ordering goblins to be cooked in pies. She flicked through the rest of the magazine. Pausing every few pages, she read: an accusation that the Tutshill Tornados were winning the Quidditch League by a combination of blackmail, illegal broom-tampering and torture; an interview with a wizard who claimed to have flown to the moon on a Cleansweep Six and brought back a bag of moon frogs to prove it; and an article on ancient runes which at least explained why Luna had been reading The Quibbler upside-down. According to the magazine, if you turned the runes on their heads they revealed a spell to make your enemy's ears turn into kumquats. In fact, compared to the rest of the articles in The Quibbler, the suggestion that Sirius might really be the lead singer of The Hobgoblins was quite sensible.**

"So that's why it isn't read very much." Padfoot said.

"My dad is the editor." Luna said. Padfoot blushed embarrassed and started muttering sorry under his breath.

**"Anything good else in there?" asked Ron as Cris closed the magazine.**

**"Of course not," said Hermione scathingly, before Cris could answer. "The Quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that."**

"Sorry, I like it know." Hermione said.

"I know," Luna said.

**"Excuse me," said Luna; her voice had suddenly lost its dreamy quality. "My father's the editor."**

**"I - oh," said Hermione, looking embarrassed. "Well, it's got some interesting… I mean, it's quite…"**

**"I'll have it back, thank you," said Luna coldly, and leaning forwards she snatched it out of Cris' hands. Riffling through it to page fifty-seven, she turned it resolutely upside-down again and disappeared behind it, just as the compartment door opened for the third time.**

**Cris looked around; she had expected this, but that did not make the sight of Draco Malfoy smirking at her from between his cronies Crabbe and Goyle any more enjoyable.**

"Is it a tradition that you come to visit us every train ride to school?" Cris asked.

"Expect for second year, it kind of has." Draco said.

**"What?" she said aggressively, before Malfoy could open his mouth.**

**"Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention," drawled Malfoy, whose sleek blond hair and pointed chin were just like his fathers. "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments."**

**"Yeah," said Cris, "but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone."**

"Nice one Bambi!" The twins yelled.

"That is your father and mother coming out in you again." Robin said with a smile.

"I really wanted to laugh with that." Draco said.

"A Malfoy with a sense of humor, who would have known?" Padfoot said.

**Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Neville laughed. Malfoy's lip curled.**

"**Tell me, how does it feel being second-best to Weasley, Potter?" he asked.**

"**Shut up, Malfoy," said Hermione sharply.**

"**I seem to have touched a nerve," said Malfoy, smirking. "Well, just watch yourself, Potter, because I'll be dogging your footsteps in case you step out of line."**

"Nice wording." Bill said with a growl.

"I know, I know, I was a jerk." Draco said.

**"Get out!" said Hermione, standing up.**

**Sniggering, Malfoy gave Cris a last malicious look and departed, with Crabbe and Goyle lumbering along in his wake. Hermione slammed the compartment door behind them and turned to look at Cris, who knew at once that she, like her, had registered what Malfoy had said and been just as unnerved by it.**

**"Chuck us another Frog," said Ron, who had clearly noticed nothing.**

**Cris could not talk freely in front of Neville and Luna.**

"Don't worry, I understand." Neville said.

"Yeah, not everyone knew that Sirius was innocent." Luna said.

**She exchanged another nervous look with Hermione, then stared out of the window.**

**She had thought Sirius coming with her to the station was a bit of a laugh, but suddenly it seemed reckless, if not downright dangerous… Hermione had been right… Sirius should not have come.**

**What if Mr. Malfoy had noticed the black dog and told Draco? What if he had deduced that the Weasleys, Remus, Tonks and Moody knew where Sirius was hiding? Or had Malfoy's use of the word dogging been a coincidence?**

"It really wasn't," Draco said.

**The weather remained undecided as they traveled further and further north. Rain spattered the windows in a half-hearted way, then the sun put in a feeble appearance before clouds drifted over it once more. When darkness fell and lamps came on inside the carriages, Luna rolled up The Quibbler, put it carefully away in her bag and took to staring at everyone in the compartment instead.**

**Cris was sitting with her forehead pressed against the train window, trying to get a first distant glimpse of Hogwarts, but it was a moonless night and the rain-streaked window was grimy.**

**"We'd better change," said Hermione at last, and all of them opened their trunks with difficulty and pulled on their school robes. She and Ron pinned their prefect badges carefully to their chests. Cris saw Ron checking his reflection in the black window.**

"Really Ron?" Bill asked as they laughed.

**At last, the train began to slow down and they heard the usual racket up and down it as everybody scrambled to get their luggage and pets assembled, ready to get off. As Ron and Hermione were supposed to supervise all this, they disappeared from the carriage again, leaving Cris and the others to look after Crookshanks and Pigwidgeon.**

**"I'll carry that owl, if you like, " said Luna to Cris, reaching out for Pigwidgeon as Neville stowed Trevor carefully in an inside pocket.**

"Did he escape again?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, he did." Neville said.

**"Oh - er - thanks, " said Cris, handing her the cage and hoisting Hedwig's more securely into her arms.**

**They shuffled out of the compartment feeling the first sting of the night air on their faces as they joined the crowd in the corridor. Slowly, they moved towards the doors. Cris could smell the pine trees that lined the path down to the lake. She stepped down on to the platform and looked around, listening for the familiar call of "firs'-years over 'ere… firs'-years…"**

**But it did not come. Instead, a quite different voice, a brisk female one, was calling out, "First years line up over here, please! All first-years to me!"**

"Where's Hagrid?" Prongs asked.

"Away doing something." Dumbledore said.

"Doing what?" Padfoot asked.

"I think the book will explain."

**A lantern came swinging towards Cris and by its light she saw the prominent chin and severe haircut of Professor Grubbly-Plank, the witch who had taken over Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures lessons for a while the previous year.**

**"Where's Hagrid?" she said out loud.**

**"I don't know," said Ginny, "but we'd better get out of the way, we're blocking the door."**

**"Oh, yeah…"**

**Cris and Ginny became separated as they moved off along the platform and out through the station. Jostled by the crowd, Cris squinted through the darkness for a glimpse of Hagrid; he had to be here, Cris had been relying on it - seeing Hagrid again was one of the things she'd been looking forward to most. But there was no sign of him.**

**He can't have left, Cris told herself as she shuffled slowly through a narrow doorway on to the road outside with the rest of the crowd. He's just got a cold or something…**

"Hagrid has never gotten a cold in his life." Charlie said.

**She looked around for Ron or Hermione, wanting to know what they thought about the reappearance of Professor Grubbly-Plank, but neither of them was anywhere near her, so she allowed herself to be shunted forwards on to the dark rain-washed road outside Hogsmeade Station.**

**Here stood the hundred or so horseless stagecoaches that always took the students above first year up to the castle. Cris glanced quickly at them, turned away to keep a lookout for Ron and Hermione, then did a double-take.**

**The coaches were no longer horseless. There were creatures standing between the carriage shafts.**

"So you weren't kidding about that." Hermione said shocked.

"Nope," Cris said.

"They are thestrals; you can only see them when you've seen death." Remus said.

"But why hadn't I been able to see them before?" Cris asked. Everyone knew what she was talking about, the night her parents died.

"You were in the cot, it blocked the sight of Lily being killed and you wouldn't have understood death." Sirius said. Cris nodded and looked down, that made sense.

**If she had had to give them a name, she supposed she would have called them horses, though there was something reptilian about them, too. They were completely fleshless, their black coats clinging to their skeletons, of which every bone was visible.**

"They don't sound nice at all." Gwen said.

"They are actually very friendly." Luna said.

**Their heads were dragonish, and their pupil-less eyes white and staring. Wings sprouted from each wither - vast, black leathery wings that looked as though they ought to belong to giant bats. Standing still and quiet in the gathering gloom, the creatures looked eerie and sinister. Cris could not understand why the coaches were being pulled by these horrible horses when they were quite capable of moving along by themselves.**

"They've always pulled them." Robin said.

**"Where's Pig?" said Ron's voice, right behind Cris.**

**"That Luna girl was carrying him," said Cris, turning quickly, eager to consult Ron about Hagrid. "Where d'you reckon -"**

**"- Hagrid is? I dunno," said Ron, sounding worried. "He'd better be okay…"**

"He is," Dumbledore said.

"That's good to hear." Moony said.

**A short distance away, Draco Malfoy, followed by a small gang of cronies including Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy Parkinson, was pushing some timid-looking second-years out of the way so that he and his friends could get a coach to themselves. Seconds later, Hermione emerged panting from the crowd.**

**"Malfoy was being absolutely foul to a first-year back there. I swear I'm going to report him, he's only had his badge three minutes and he's using it to bully people worse than ever… **

"If I didn't act like that my father would be absolutely foul to me." Draco said quietly.

"Don't worry Draco; we will do whatever we can to keep him away from you." Snape said. Draco nodded at his godfather and started when Luna reached out and grabbed his hand.

**where's Crookshanks?"**

**"Ginny's got him," said Cris. "There she is…"**

**Ginny had just emerged from the crowd, clutching a squirming Crookshanks.**

"He doesn't like being held for too long." Ginny said.

**"Thanks," said Hermione, relieving Ginny of the cat. "Come on, let's get a carriage together before they all fill up…"**

**"I haven't got Pig yet!" Ron said, but Hermione was already heading off towards the nearest unoccupied coach. Cris remained behind with Ron.**

**"What are those things, d'you reckon?" she asked Ron, nodding at the horrible horses as the other students surged past them.**

**"What things?"**

**"Those horse -"**

"He can't see them." Remus said.

"I hope that will remain so." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Sorry Grandma, but almost the whole family can, other than their kids, that is." Victoire said. Mrs. Weasley looked over at her horrified before Snape continued reading.

**Luna appeared holding Pigwidgeon's cage in her arms; the tiny owl was twittering excitedly as usual.**

**"Here you are," she said. "He's a sweet little owl, isn't he?"**

"Just don't give him coffee." Keiran said.

"Do we want to know?" Ginny asked.

"He got ahold of some coffee grinds one time and zoomed all over the place. He didn't calm down for two whole days." Teddy said.

**"Er… yeah… he's all right," said Ron gruffly. "Well, come on then, let's get in… what were you saying, Cris?"**

**"I was saying, what are those horse things?" Cris said, as he, Ron and Luna made for the carriage in which Hermione and Ginny were already sitting.**

**"What horse things?"**

**"The horse things pulling the carriages!" said Cris impatiently. They were, after all, about three feet from the nearest one; it was watching them with empty white eyes. Ron, however, gave Cris a perplexed look.**

**"What are you talking about?"**

**"I'm talking about - look!"**

**Cris grabbed Ron's arm and wheeled him about so that he was face to face with the winged horse. Ron stared straight at it for a second, then looked back at Cris.**

"I thought you had gone insane mate." Ron said.

"Don't worry, I thought I was too." Cris said.

**"What am I supposed to be looking at?"**

**"At the - there, between the shafts! Harnessed to the coach! It's right there in front"**

**But as Ron continued to look bemused, a strange thought occurred to Cris.**

**"Can't… can't you see them?"**

**"See what?"**

**"Can't you see what's pulling the carriages?"**

"You should have made him touch one." Robin said.

"I would have been freaked if that happened." Ron said.

**Ron looked seriously alarmed now.**

**"Are you feeling all right, Cris?"**

**"I… yeah…"**

**Cris felt utterly bewildered. The horse was there in front of her, gleaming solidly in the dim light issuing from the station windows behind them, vapor rising from its nostrils in the chilly night air. Yet, unless Ron was faking - and it was a very feeble joke if he was - Ron could not see it at all.**

**"Shall we get in, then?" said Ron uncertainly, looking at Cris as though worried about her.**

**"Yeah," said Cris. "Yeah, go on…"**

**"It's all right," said a dreamy voice from beside Cris as Ron vanished into the coach's dark interior. "You're not going mad or anything. I can see them, too."**

"What happened?" Lily asked.

"My mum." Luna said quietly. Draco hugged her to him as Snape continued reading.

**"Can you?" said Cris desperately, turning to Luna. She could see the bat-winged horses reflected in her wide silvery eyes.**

**"Oh, yes," said Luna, "I've been able to see them ever since my first day here.**

"That's terrible, you were so young." Gwen said.

**They've always pulled the carriages. Don't worry. You're just as sane as I am."**

"Luna, no offence or anything but that didn't really make me feel any better." Cris said.

"It's alright, Cris." Luna said.

**Smiling faintly, she climbed into the musty interior of the carriage after Ron. Not altogether reassured, Cris followed her.**

"That is the chapter." Snape said.

"Well now you're at Hogwarts." Lily said. Moody took the book and started the next chapter.


	12. Chapter 11: The Sorting Hat's New Song

"**Chapter 11: The Sorting Hat's New Song," **Moody read.

"There's a new song every year, so what's different about this one?" Charlie asked.

"The war has started and it is known for giving advice." Dumbledore said.

**Cris did not want to tell the others that she and Luna were having the same hallucination, if that was what it was, so she said nothing more about the horses as she sat down inside the carriage and slammed the door behind her. Nevertheless, she could not help watching the silhouettes of the horses moving beyond the window.**

**"****Did everyone see that Grubbly-Plank woman?" asked Ginny. "What's she doing back here? Hagrid can't have left, can he?"**

"I'm sure it's nothing to be worried about." Lily said.

"It probably has to do with the Order." Prongs said.

"Yeah, that's all it is." Padfoot said.

**"****I'll be quite glad if he has," said Luna, "he isn't a very good teacher, is he?"**

"Yes he is!" shouted most of the room.

"Every teacher has their own style." Remus said.

**"****Yes, he is!" said Cris, Ron and Ginny angrily.**

**Cris glared at Hermione. She cleared her throat and quickly said, "Erm… yes… he's very good."**

**"****Well, we in Ravenclaw think he's a bit of a joke," said Luna, unfazed.**

Everyone was sending glares to Luna who was hiding behind Draco.

"I'm sorry, I just never knew him like you guys do." Luna said.

"That would explain it." Cris said.

**"****You've got a rubbish sense of humor then," Ron snapped, as the wheels below them creaked into motion.**

**Luna did not seem perturbed by Ron's rudeness; on the contrary, she simply watched him for a while as though he were a mildly interesting television program. **

Mr. Weasley hurriedly wrote that down on his pad of paper.

**Rattling and swaying, the carriages moved in convoy up the road. When they passed between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars on either side of the gates to the school grounds, Cris leaned forwards to try and see whether there were any lights on in Hagrid's cabin by the Forbidden Forest, but the grounds were in complete darkness. Hogwarts Castle, however, loomed ever closer: a towering mass of turrets, jet black against the dark sky, here and there a window blazing fiery bright above them.**

**The carriages jingled to a halt near the stone steps leading up to the oak front doors and Cris got out of the carriage first. She turned again to look for lit windows down by the Forest, but there was definitely no sign of life within Hagrid's cabin. Unwillingly, because she had half-hoped they would have vanished, she turned her eyes instead upon the strange, skeletal creatures standing quietly in the chill night air, their blank white eyes gleaming.**

**Cris had once before had the experience of seeing something that Ron could not, but that had been a reflection in a mirror, something much more insubstantial than a hundred very solid looking beasts strong enough to pull a fleet of carriages. If Luna was to be believed, the beasts had always been there but invisible. Why, then, could Cris suddenly see them, and why could Ron not?**

"You've seen death." Sirius said sadly.

"A little warning may have been nice though." Cris said.

"Sorry, we didn't think about that." Remus said.

**"Are you coming or what?" said Ron beside her.**

**"Oh… yeah," said Cris quickly and they joined the crowd hurrying up the stone steps into the castle.**

**The Entrance Hall was ablaze with torches and echoing with footsteps as the students crossed the flagged stone floor for the double doors to the right, leading to the Great Hall and the start-of-term feast.**

**The four long house tables in the Great Hall were filling up under the starless black ceiling, which was just like the sky they could glimpse through the high windows. Candles floated in midair all along the tables, illuminating the silvery ghosts who were dotted about the Hall and the faces of the students talking eagerly, exchanging summer news, shouting greetings at friends from other houses, eyeing one another's new haircuts and robes. Again, Cris noticed people putting their heads together to whisper as she passed; she gritted her teeth and tried to act as though she neither noticed nor cared.**

**Luna drifted away from them at the Ravenclaw table. The moment they reached Gryffindors, Ginny was hailed by some fellow fourth-years and left to sit with them; Cris, Ron, Hermione and Neville found seats together about halfway down the table between Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor house ghost, and Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, the last two of whom gave Cris airy, overly-friendly greetings that made her quite sure they had stopped talking about her a split second before. She had more important things to worry about, however: she was looking over the students' heads to the staff table that ran along the top wall of the Hall.**

**"He's not there."**

**Ron and Hermione scanned the staff table too, though there was no real need; Hagrid's size made him instantly obvious in any lineup.**

"Well he is half-giant." Robin said.

**"He can't have left," said Ron, sounding slightly anxious.**

"Well not permanently." Remus said.

**"Of course he hasn't," said Cris firmly.**

**"You don't think he's… hurt, or anything, do you?" said Hermione uneasily.**

**"No," said Cris at once.**

**"But where is he, then?"**

**There was a pause, then Cris said very quietly, so that Neville, Parvati and Lavender could not hear, **

**"Maybe he's not back yet. You know - from his mission - the thing he was doing over the summer for Dumbledore."**

**"Yeah… yeah, that'll be it," said Ron, sounding reassured, but Hermione bit her lip, looking up and down the staff table as though hoping for some conclusive explanation of Hagrid's absence.**

**"Who's that?" she said sharply, pointing towards the middle of the staff table.**

**Cris' eyes followed hers. They lit first upon Professor Dumbledore, sitting in his high-backed golden chair at the center of the long staff table, wearing deep-purple robes scattered with silvery stars and a matching hat. Dumbledore's head was inclined towards the woman sitting next to him, who was talking into his ear. She looked, Cris thought, like somebody's maiden aunt: squat, with short, curly, mouse-brown hair in which she had placed a horrible pink Alice band that matched the fluffy pink cardigan she wore over her robes. **

"NO!" Moony cried.

"It is," Remus said.

"They won't learn anything though." Moony cried out.

**Then she turned her face slightly to take a sip from her goblet and he saw, with a shock of recognition, a pallid, toad like face and a pair of prominent, pouchy eyes.**

**"It's that Umbridge woman!" **

"What is she doing there?" Padfoot asked oblivious to the fact that she was in the room.

"Nothing good." Moony said.

**"Who?" said Hermione.**

**"She was at my hearing, she works for Fudge!"**

**"Nice cardigan," said Ron, smirking.**

"Of course he would say that." Bill said.

"I'm not wearing pink ever again." Ginny said.

**"She works for Fudge!" Hermione repeated, frowning. "What on earth's she doing here, then?"**

**"Dunno…"**

**Hermione scanned the staff table, her eyes narrowed.**

**"No," she muttered, "no, surely not…"**

"Yes, yes it is." Hermione said.

"But you won't learn anything. Are you trying to get them killed, not being able to defend themselves is a signed death warrant." Lily said. Fudge blanched, what does that mean.

**Cris did understand what she was talking about but did not ask for confirmation; her attention had been caught by Professor Grubbly-Plank who had just appeared behind the staff table; she worked her way along to the very end and took the seat that ought to have been Hagrid's. That meant the first-years must have crossed the lake and reached the castle, and sure enough, a few seconds later, the doors from the Entrance Hall opened. A long line of scared-looking first-years entered, led by Professor McGonagall, who was carrying a stool on which sat an ancient wizard's hat, heavily patched and darned with a wide rip near the frayed brim.**

**The buzz of talk in the Great Hall faded away. The first-years lined up in front of the staff table facing the rest of the students, and Professor McGonagall placed the stool carefully in front of them, then stood back.**

**The first-years' faces glowed palely in the candlelight. A small boy right in the middle of the row looked as though he was trembling. Cris recalled, fleetingly, how terrified she had felt when she had stood there, waiting for the unknown test that would determine to which house she belonged. The whole school waited with bated breath. Then the rip near the hat's brim opened wide like a mouth and the Sorting Hat burst into song:**

Tonks took the book from Moody to sing.

**In times of old when I was new,**

**And Hogwarts barely started,**

**The founders of our noble school,**

**Thought never to be parted,**

**United by a common goal,**

**They had the selfsame yearning,**

**To make the world's best magic school,**

**And pass along their learning.**

**"Together we will build and teach!"**

**The four good friends decided,**

**And never did they dream,**

**That they might someday be divided,**

**For were there such friends anywhere,**

**As Slytherin and Gryffindor?**

**Unless it was the second pair**

**Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?**

**So how could it have gone so wrong?**

**How could such friendships fail?**

**Why, I was there and so can tell,**

**The whole sad, sorry tale.**

**Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those whose**

**Ancestry is purest."**

**Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose**

**Intelligence is surest."**

**Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those**

**With brave deeds to their name."**

**Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot,**

**And treat them just the same."**

**These differences caused little strife,**

**When first they came to light,**

**For each of the four founders had**

**A house in which they might**

**Take only those they wanted,**

**So, for instance, Slytherin**

**Took only pure-blood wizards**

**Of great cunning, just like him,**

**And only those of sharpest mind**

**Were taught by Ravenclaw**

**While the bravest and the boldest**

**Went to daring Gryffindor.**

**Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest,**

**And taught them all she knew,**

**Thus the houses and their founders**

**Retained friendships firm and true.**

**So Hogwarts worked in harmony**

**For several happy years,**

**But then discord crept among us**

**Feeding on our faults and fears.**

**The houses that, like pillars four,**

**Had once held up our school,**

**Now turned upon each other and,**

**Divided, sought to rule.**

**And for a while it seemed the school**

**Must meet an early end,**

**What with dueling and with fighting**

**And the clash of friend on friend**

**And at last there came a morning**

**When old Slytherin departed**

**And though the fighting then died out**

**He left us quite downhearted.**

**And never since the founders four**

**Were whittled down to three**

**Have the houses been united**

**As they once were meant to be.**

**And now the Sorting Hat is here**

**And you all know the score:**

**I sort you into houses**

**Because that is what I'm for,**

**But this year I'll go further,**

**Listen closely to my song:**

**Though condemned I am to split you**

**Still I worry that it's wrong,**

**Though I must fulfill my duty**

**And must quarter every year**

**Still I wonder whether Sorting**

**May not bring the end I fear.**

**Oh, know the perils, read the signs,**

**The warning history shows,**

**For our Hogwarts is in danger**

**From external, deadly foes**

**And we must unite inside her**

**Or we'll crumble from within**

**I have told you, I have warned you…**

**Let the Sorting now begin.**

"It's warning you." Prongs said.

"I highly doubt that Gryffindor and Slytherin could get along." Padfoot said.

"Well it seems it's happening now." Moony said pointing to Draco.

"Well let's hope that this could start something more." Lily said.

**The Hat became motionless once more; applause broke out, though it was punctured, for the first time in Cris' memory, with muttering and whispers. All across the Great Hall students were exchanging remarks with their neighbors, and Cris, clapping along with everyone else, knew exactly what they were talking about.**

**"Branched out a bit this year, hasn't it?" said Ron, his eyebrows raised.**

**"Too right it has," said Cris.**

**The Sorting Hat usually confined itself to describing the different qualities looked for by each of the four Hogwarts houses and its own role in Sorting them. Cris could not remember it ever trying to give the school advice before.**

"It does in our time." Prongs said.

"That's because we are at war." Lily said.

**"I wonder if it's ever given warnings before?" said Hermione, sounding slightly anxious.**

"Yep," said the marauders.

**"****Yes, indeed," said Nearly Headless Nick knowledgeably, leaning across Neville towards her (Neville winced; it was very uncomfortable to have a ghost lean through you). "The Hat feels itself honor-bound to give the school due warning whenever it feels –" **

"Interesting." Gwen said.

**But Professor McGonagall, who was waiting to read out the list of first-years' names, was giving the whispering students the sort of look that scorches. Nearly Headless Nick placed a see-through finger to his lips and sat primly upright again as the muttering came to an abrupt end.**

**With a last frowning look that swept the four house tables, Professor McGonagall lowered her eyes to her long piece of parchment and called out the first name.**

**"****Abercrombie, Euan."**

**The terrified-looking boy Cris had noticed earlier stumbled forwards and put the Hat on his head; it was only prevented from falling right down to his shoulders by his very prominent ears. The Hat considered for a moment, then the rip near the brim opened again and shouted:**

**"****Gryffindor!"**

The Gryffindor's in the room cheered.

**Cris clapped loudly with the rest of Gryffindor house as Euan Abercrombie staggered to their table and sat down, looking as though he would like very much to sink through the floor and never be looked at again.**

**Slowly, the long line of first-years thinned. In the pauses between the names and the Sorting Hat's decisions, Cris could hear Ron's stomach rumbling loudly. Finally, "Zeller, Rose" was Sorted into Hufflepuff, and Professor McGonagall picked up the Hat and stool and marched them away as Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet.**

**Whatever his recent bitter feelings had been towards his Headmaster, Cris was somehow soothed to see Dumbledore standing before them all. **

"That won't change until the day that I die." Dumbledore said.

**Between the absence of Hagrid and the presence of those dragonish horses, she had felt that her return to Hogwarts, so long anticipated, was full of unexpected surprises, like jarring notes in a familiar song. But this, at least, was how it was supposed to be: their Headmaster rising to greet them all before the start-of-term feast.**

**"To our newcomers," said Dumbledore in a ringing voice, his arms stretched wide and a beaming smile on his lips, "welcome! To our old hands - welcome back! There is a time for speechmaking, but this is not it. Tuck in!"**

"I love how you do that, its short welcome and very warming." Lily said.

**There was an appreciative laugh and an outbreak of applause as Dumbledore sat down neatly and threw his long beard over his shoulder so as to keep it out of the way of his plate - for food had appeared out of nowhere,**

"Not out of nowhere." Remus said.

"I know," Cris said.

**so that the five long tables were groaning under joints and pies and dishes of vegetables, bread and sauces and flagons of pumpkin juice.**

**"****Excellent," said Ron, with a kind of groan of longing, and he seized the nearest plate of chops and began piling them on to his plate, watched wistfully by Nearly Headless Nick.**

**"****What were you saying before the Sorting?" Hermione asked the ghost. "About the Hat giving warnings?"**

**"****Oh, yes," said Nick, who seemed glad of a reason to turn away from Ron, who was now eating roast potatoes with almost indecent enthusiasm. "Yes, I have heard the Hat give several warnings before, always at times when it detects periods of great danger for the school. And always, of course, its advice is the same: stand together, be strong from within."**

"How is that going to happen though, it won't until the prejudice is gone, and that won't ever be gone." Robin said.

"So true," McGonagall said.

**"****Ow kunnit nofe skusin danger ifzat?" said Ron.**

"Swallow then speak." Gwen said.

"Is it bad that I can understand that?" Cris asked.

"No, not with Ron as your friend." Fred said.

"Oi!"

**His mouth was so full Cris thought it was quite an achievement for him to make any noise at all.**

**"****I beg your pardon?" said Nearly Headless Nick politely, while Hermione looked revolted. Ron gave an enormous swallow and said, "How can it know if the school's in danger if it's a Hat?"**

**"I have no idea," said Nearly Headless Nick. "Of course, it lives in Dumbledore's office, so I daresay it picks things up there."**

**"****And it wants all the houses to be friends?" said Cris, looking over at the Slytherin table, where Draco Malfoy was holding court. "Fat chance."**

**"****Well, now, you shouldn't take that attitude," said Nick reprovingly. "Peaceful cooperation, that's the key. We ghosts, though we belong to separate houses, maintain links of friendship. In spite of the competitiveness between Gryffindor and Slytherin, I would never dream of seeking an argument with the Bloody Baron."**

**"****Only because you're terrified of him," said Ron. **

"That's not nice thing to say." Luna said.

"It's Ron, he's not known for his tact." Cris said.

"Oi! What is it, pick on Ron day?" Ron asked.

"Yep," chorused the room.

**Nearly Headless Nick looked highly affronted.**

**"****Terrified? I hope I, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, have never been guilty of cowardice in my life! The noble blood that runs in my veins -"**

**"****What blood?" asked Ron. "Surely you haven't still got -?"**

Hermione slapped him as did Ginny.

**"****Its a figure of speech!" said Nearly Headless Nick, now so annoyed his head was trembling ominously on his partially severed neck. "I assume I am still allowed to enjoy the use of whichever words I like, even if the pleasures of eating and drinking are denied me! But I am quite used to students poking fun at my death, I assure you!"**

**"****Nick, he wasn't really laughing at you!" said Hermione, throwing a furious look at Ron.**

**Unfortunately, Ron's mouth was packed to exploding point again and all he could manage was**

**"****Node iddum eentup sechew," which Nick did not seem to think constituted an adequate apology.**

"What did he say?" Gwen asked.

"No, I didn't mean to upset you." Robin said.

**Rising into the air, he straightened his feathered hat and swept away from them to the other end of the table, coming to rest between the Creevey brothers, Colin and Dennis.**

**"****Well done, Ron," snapped Hermione.**

**"****What?" said Ron indignantly, having managed, finally, to swallow his food. "I'm not allowed to ask a simple question?"**

"No, but you should be a bit more sensitive." Charlie said.

**"****Oh, forget it," said Hermione irritably, and the pair of them spent the rest of the meal in huffy silence.**

**Cris was too used to their bickering to bother trying to reconcile them; she felt it was a better use of her time to eat her way steadily through her steak and kidney pie, then a large plateful of her favorite treacle tart.**

"Yum," Lily and James said.

**When all the students had finished eating and the noise level in the Hall was starting to creep upwards again, Dumbledore got to his feet once more. Talking ceased immediately as all turned to lace the Headmaster. Cris was feeling pleasantly drowsy now. Her four-poster bed was waiting somewhere above, wonderfully warm and soft…**

**"****Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices," said Dumbledore. "First-years ought to know that the Forest in the grounds is out-of-bounds to students - and a few of our older students ought to know by now, too." (Cris, Ron and Hermione exchanged smirks.)**

**"****Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me, for what he tells me is the four-hundred-and-sixty second time, to remind you all that magic is not permitted in corridors between classes, nor are a number of other things, all of which can be checked on the extensive list now fastened to Mr. Filch's office door.**

"Does anyone ever read that?" Gwen asked.

"We have," the twins and the marauders said.

"You can't know what rules to break if you don't know them." Charlie said.

**"****We have had two changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."**

"This isn't going to be good." Lily whispered.

"No, I sense a very bad year coming up." Prongs said.

**There was a round of polite but fairly unenthusiastic applause, during which Cris, Ron and Hermione exchanged slightly panicked looks; Dumbledore had not said for how long Grubbly- Plank would be teaching.**

**Dumbledore continued, "Tryouts for the house Quidditch teams will take place on the -"**

**He broke off, looking enquiringly at Professor Umbridge. As she was not much taller standing than sitting, there was a moment when nobody understood why Dumbledore had stopped talking, but then Professor Umbridge cleared her throat, "Hem, hem," and it became clear that she had got to her feet and was intending to make a speech.**

"That has never happened before." Prongs said.

"No teacher has ever interrupted Dumbledore's welcoming speech before." Padfoot said.

**Dumbledore only looked taken aback for a moment, then he sat down smartly and looked alertly at Professor Umbridge as though he desired nothing better than to listen to her talk. Other members of staff were not as adept at hiding their surprise. Professor Sprout's eyebrows had disappeared into her flyaway hair and Professor McGonagall's mouth was as thin as Cris had ever seen it. No new teacher had ever interrupted Dumbledore before. Many of the students were smirking; this woman obviously did not know how things were done at Hogwarts.**

Umbridge glared at the book oblivious to the smirks around the room.

**"****Thank you, Headmaster," Professor Umbridge simpered, "for those kind words of welcome."**

**Her voice was high-pitched, breathy and little-girlish and, again, Cris felt a powerful rush of dislike that she could not explain to herself; all she knew was that she loathed everything about her, from her stupid voice to her fluffy pink cardigan. She gave another little throat-clearing cough ("hem, hem") and continued.**

**"****Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say!" She smiled, revealing very pointed teeth. "And to see such happy little faces looking up at me!"**

"You are talking to teenagers, not toddlers, they understand you and some of them can probably out duel you, in fact I guess Cris can seeing as she dueled Voldemort and lived." Tonks said.

**Cris glanced around. None of the faces she could see looked happy. On the contrary, they all looked rather taken-aback at being addressed as though they were five years old.**

**"****I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all and I'm sure we'll be very good friends!"**

"When the world ends and the dead come back and Voldemort becomes good." Cris said.

"So never," Remus said with a smirk.

"Exactly," Cris said.

**Students exchanged looks at this; some of them were barely concealing grins.**

**"****I'll be her friend as long as I don't have to borrow that cardigan," Parvati whispered to Lavender, and both of them lapsed into silent giggles.**

**Professor Umbridge cleared her throat again ("hem, hem"), but when she continued, some of the breathiness had vanished from her voice. She sounded much more businesslike and now her words had a dull learned-by-heart sound to them.**

**"****The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the wizarding community must be passed down the generations lest we lose them forever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching."**

"Which doesn't include you; you have no idea how to teach." Cris muttered so the toad woman could not hear her.

**Professor Umbridge paused here and made a little bow to her fellow staff members, none of whom bowed back to her. Professor McGonagall's dark eyebrows had contracted so that she looked positively hawk like, and Cris distinctly saw her exchange a significant glance with Professor Sprout as Umbridge gave another little "hem, hem" and went on with her speech. **

"Just shut up already," Moony said.

**"****Every headmaster and headmistress of Hogwarts has brought something new to the weighty task of governing this historic school, and that is as it should be, for without progress there will be stagnation and decay. There again, progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering. A balance, then, between old and new, between permanence and change, between tradition and innovation…"**

"What now? Are you trying to make them fail, if you don't practice spells they don't always come out right." Lily said.

"Yeah, I tried the disarming spell and ended up on my but when I first tried it." James said.

**Cris found her attentiveness ebbing, as though her brain was slipping in and out of tune. The quiet that always filled the Hall when Dumbledore was speaking was breaking up as students put their heads together, whispering and giggling. Over on the Ravenclaw table Cho Chang was chatting animatedly with her friends. A few seats along from Cho, Luna Lovegood had got out The Quibbler again. **

"See, speeches like that will never get you anywhere." Robin said.

**Meanwhile, at the Hufflepuff table Ernie Macmillan was one of the few still staring at Professor Umbridge, but he was glassy-eyed and Cris was sure he was only pretending to listen in an attempt to live up to the new prefect's badge gleaming on his chest.**

**Professor Umbridge did not seem to notice the restlessness of her audience. Cris had the impression that a full-scale riot could have broken out under her nose and she would have ploughed on with her speech. The teachers, however, were still listening very attentively, and Hermione seemed to be drinking in every word Umbridge spoke, though, judging by her expression, they were not at all to her taste.**

**"… ****because some changes will be for the better, while others will come, in the fullness of time, to be recognized as errors of judgment. Meanwhile, some old habits will be retained, and rightly so, whereas others, outmoded and outworn, must be abandoned. Let us move forward, then, into a new era of openness, effectiveness and accountability, intent on preserving what ought to be preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited."**

"She's not doing what I think she's doing is she?" Moony asked.

"Yes," said the current students.

**She sat down. Dumbledore clapped. The staff followed his lead, though Cris noticed that several of them brought their hands together only once or twice before stopping. A few students joined in, but most had been taken unawares by the end of the speech, not having listened to more than a few words of it, and before they could start applauding properly, Dumbledore had stood up again.**

**"****Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge, that was most illuminating," he said, bowing to her. "Now, as I was saying, Quidditch tryouts will be held…"**

"And right back to where you left off." Prongs said with a laugh.

**"****Yes, it certainly was illuminating," said Hermione in a low voice.**

**"****You're not telling me you enjoyed it?" Ron said quietly, turning a glazed face towards Hermione. "That was about the dullest speech I've ever heard, and I grew up with Percy."**

"Hey!" Percy cried out.

**"****I said illuminating, not enjoyable," said Hermione. "It explained a lot."**

"That it did." Remus said.

**"****Did it?" said Cris in surprise. "Sounded like a load of waffle to me."**

**"****There was some important stuff hidden in the waffle," said Hermione grimly.**

**"****Was there?" said Ron blankly.**

**"****How about: 'progress for progress's sake must be discouraged'? How about: 'pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited'?"**

**"****Well, what does that mean?" said Ron impatiently.**

**"****I'll tell you what it means," said Cris as she put it together. "It means the Ministry's interfering at Hogwarts."**

"Nothing good can come from that." Moony said.

"It's not," Hermione said.

**There was a great clattering and banging all around them; Dumbledore had obviously just dismissed the school, because everyone was standing up ready to leave the Hall. Hermione jumped up, looking flustered.**

**"Ron, we're supposed to show the first-years where to go!"**

**"****Oh yeah," said Ron, who had obviously forgotten. "Hey - hey, you lot! Midgets!"**

"Ron!" Bill said.

"What, they're short." Ron said.

"Not as short as Cris though." George said.

"Hey!" Cris said pouting.

**"****Ron!"**

**"****Well, they are, they're titchy…"**

**"****I know, but you can't call them midgets! - First-years!" Hermione called commandingly along the table. "This way, please!"**

**A group of new students walked shyly up the gap between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, all of them trying hard not to lead the group. They did indeed seem very small; Cris was sure she had not appeared that young when she had arrived here. **

"No, like we said you were smaller." Ron said. Cris pouted as the twins each kissed a cheek.

**She grinned at them. A blond boy next to Euan Abercrombie looked petrified; he nudged Euan and whispered something in his ear.**

**Euan Abercrombie looked equally frightened and stole a horrified look at Cris, who felt the grin slide off her face like Stinksap.**

"Great, now everyone is scared of you." Prongs said.

"Stupid Daily Prophet," Padfoot said.

**"****See you later," she said dully to Ron and Hermione and she made her way out of the Great Hall alone, doing everything she could to ignore more whispering, staring and pointing as she passed.**

**She kept her eyes fixed ahead as she wove her way through the crowd in the Entrance Hall, then she hurried up the marble staircase, took a couple of concealed short cuts and had soon left most of the crowds behind.**

**She had been stupid not to expect this, she thought angrily as she walked through the much emptier upstairs corridors. Of course everyone was staring at her; she had emerged from the Triwizard maze two months previously clutching the dead body of a fellow student and claiming to have seen Lord Voldemort return to power. There had not been time last term to explain herself before they'd all had to go home - even if she had felt up to giving the whole school a detailed account of the terrible events in that graveyard.**

**Cris had reached the end of the corridor to the Gryffindor common room and come to a halt in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady before she realized that she did not know the new password.**

"Oops," Hermione and Ron said.

"It's alright," Cris said. "Neville helped me out."

**"****Er…" she said glumly, staring up at the Fat Lady, who smoothed the folds of her pink satin dress and looked sternly back at her.**

**"****No password, no entrance," she said loftily.**

"But she's a member of the house." Gwen said.

"To be honest she does look a lot different without the glasses." Neville said.

"Most people do. When did you first get glasses?" Lily asked. Cris paused to think about it.

"6, I think." Cris said.

"About the same time I did." Prongs said.

"Me too!" James and Al said.

**"****Cris, I know it!" Someone panted up behind her and she turned to see Neville jogging towards her. "Guess what it is? I'm actually going to be able to remember it for once -" He waved the stunted little cactus he had shown them on the train. "Mimbulus mimbletonia!"**

"Good, you'll be able to remember it." Lily said.

**"****Correct," said the Fat Lady, and her portrait swung open towards them like a door, revealing a circular hole in the wall behind, through which Cris and Neville now climbed.**

**The Gryffindor common room looked as welcoming as ever, a cozy circular tower room full of dilapidated squashy armchairs and rickety old tables. A fire was crackling merrily in the grate and a few people were warming their hands by it before going up to their dormitories; on the other side of the room Fred and George Weasley were pinning something up on the notice board.**

**Cris waved goodnight to them and headed straight for the door to the boys' dormitories; she was not in much of a mood for talking at the moment. Neville followed her.**

**Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan had reached the dormitory first and were in the process of covering the walls beside their beds with posters and photographs. They had been talking as Cris pushed open the door but stopped abruptly the moment they saw her. Cris wondered whether they had been talking about her, then whether she was being paranoid.**

"Follow them, they are usually rarely wrong." Remus said.

"Thanks Uncle Moony." Cris said.

**"****Hi," she said, moving across to her own trunk and opening it.**

**"****Hey, Cris," said Dean, who was putting on a pair of pajamas in the West Ham colors. "Good holiday?"**

**"****Not bad," muttered Cris, as a true account of her holiday would have taken most of the night to relate and she could not face it. "You?"**

**"****Yeah, it was okay," chuckled Dean. "Better than Seamus's, anyway, he was just telling me."**

"Seamus better not be turning against you." growled Padfoot.

**"****Why, what happened, Seamus?" Neville asked as he placed his Mimbulus mimbletonia tenderly on his bedside cabinet.**

**Seamus did not answer immediately; he was making rather a meal of ensuring that his poster of the Kenmare Kestrels Quidditch team was quite straight. Then he said, with his back still turned to Cris, "Me mam didn't want me to come back."**

"Great, it's probably because you two share a dorm." Keiran said.

**"****What?" said Cris, pausing in the act of pulling off his robes.**

**"****She didn't want me to come back to Hogwarts."**

**Seamus turned away from his poster and pulled his own pajamas out of his trunk, still not looking at Cris.**

**"****But - why?" said Cris, astonished. She knew that Seamus's mother was a witch and could not understand, therefore, why she should have come over so Dursleyish.**

**Seamus did not answer until he had finished buttoning his pajamas.**

**"****Well," he said in a measured voice, "I suppose… because of you."**

"He believes the Prophet then?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, he and his mom." Cris said.

"But he seemed so nice." Lily said.

"**What d'you mean?" said Cris quickly.**

**Her heart was beating rather fast. She felt vaguely as though something was closing in on her.**

"**Well," said Seamus again, still avoiding Cris' eye, "she… er… well, it's not just you, it's Dumbledore, too…"**

"**She believes the Daily Prophet?" said Cris. "She thinks I'm a liar and Dumbledore's an old fool?"**

"Neither are true." Lily J said.

**Seamus looked up at him.**

**"****Yeah, something like that."**

**Cris said nothing. She threw her wand down on to her bedside table, stalked off into the bathroom changed into her pajamas and back into the dorm with her robes, stuffed them angrily into her trunk. She was sick of it; sick of being the person who was stared at and talked about all the time. If any of them knew, if any of them had the faintest idea what it felt like to be the one all these things had happened to… Mrs. Finnigan had no idea, the stupid woman, she thought savagely. **

"Cris it's not her fault, nobody should know what that feels like." Sirius said.

"I know," Cris said.

**She got into bed and made to pull the hangings closed around her, but before she could do so, Seamus said, "Look… what did happen that night when… you know, when… with Cedric Diggory and all?"**

**Seamus sounded nervous and eager at the same time. Dean, who had been bending over his trunk trying to retrieve a slipper, went oddly still and Cris knew he was listening hard.**

**"****I don't want to talk about it. You think it's easy? Having to bring back his body, I was in shock, I didn't want to move, but if you don't believe me than read the bloody Prophet. But if you do then you're different than the Seamus I've come to know." Cris retorted. "I've thought you would know better than to believe everything you read like you mum." **

"Cris, you don't need to get all snappy at him." Fred said.

"I know, it just pulled on a nerve is all." Cris said.

"**Don't you have a go at my mother," Seamus snapped.**

"**I'll have a go at anyone who calls me a liar," said Cris.**

"You definitely take after your parents." Robin said.

**"****Don't talk to me like that!"**

**"****I'll talk to you how I want," said Cris, her temper rising so fast she snatched her wand back from her bedside table. "If you've got a problem sharing a dormitory with me, go and ask McGonagall if you can be moved… stop your mummy worrying -"**

**"****Leave my mother out of this, Potter!"**

"Oh, that's not good." Padfoot said.

**"****What's going on?"**

**Ron had appeared in the doorway. His wide eyes traveled from Cris, who was kneeling on her bed with her wand pointing at Seamus, to Seamus, who was standing there with his fists raised.**

**"****She's having a go at my mother!" Seamus yelled.**

**"****What?" said Ron. "Cris wouldn't do that — we met your mother, we liked her…"**

**"****That's before she started believing every word the stinking Daily Prophet writes about me!" said Cris at the top of her voice.**

**"****Oh," said Ron, comprehension dawning across his freckled face. "Oh… right."**

"I hope you two don't get into a fight this year." Mr. Weasley said.

"I hope we don't ever have a fight again." Cris said.

"Agreed," Ron said. They missed the looks from the future kids.

**"****You know what?" said Seamus heatedly, casting Cris a venomous look. "She's right, I don't want to share a dormitory with her anymore, she's a madwoman"**

**"****That's out of order, Seamus," said Ron, whose ears were starting to glow red - always a danger sign.**

**"****Out of order, am I?" shouted Seamus, who in contrast with Ron was tuning paler. "You believe all the rubbish she's come out with about You-Know-Who, do you, you reckon she's telling the truth?"**

**"****Yeah, I do!" said Ron angrily.**

**"****Then you're mad, too," said Seamus in disgust.**

**"****Yeah? Well, unfortunately for you, pal, I'm also a prefect!" said Ron, jabbing himself in the chest with a finger. "So unless you want detention, watch your mouth!"**

**Seamus looked for a few seconds as though detention would be a reasonable price to pay to say what was going through his mind; but with a noise of contempt he turned on his heel, vaulted into bed and pulled the hangings shut with such violence that they were ripped from the bed and fell in a dusty pile to the floor. Ron glared at Seamus, then looked at Dean and Neville.**

**"****Anyone else's parents got a problem with Cris?" he said aggressively. **

**"****My parents are Muggles, mate," said Dean, shrugging. "They don't know nothing about no deaths at Hogwarts, because I'm not stupid enough to tell them."**

"I didn't tell mine either." Hermione said. "They would pull me for sure."

"Good, I'd rather you not leave." Cris said.

"Yeah, we'd be lost without you." Ron said.

**"****You don't know my mother, she'd weasel anything out of anyone!" Seamus snapped at him.**

**"Anyway your parents don't get the Daily Prophet. They don't know our Headmaster's been sacked from the Wizengamot and the International Confederation of Wizards because he's losing his marbles -"**

**"****My gran says that's rubbish," piped up Neville. "She says it's the Daily Prophet that's going downhill, not Dumbledore. She's cancelled our subscription. We believe Cris" said Neville simply. **

**He climbed into bed and pulled the covers up to his chin, looking owlishly over them at Seamus. "My gran's always said You-Know-Who would come back one day. She says if Dumbledore says he's back, he's back."**

**Cris felt a rush of gratitude towards Neville. Nobody else said anything. Seamus got out his wand, repaired the bed hangings and vanished behind them. Dean got into bed, rolled over and fell silent. Neville, who appeared to have nothing more to say either, was gazing fondly at his moonlit cactus.**

**Cris lay back on her pillows while Ron bustled around the next bed, putting her things away. She felt shaken by the argument with Seamus, whom she had always liked very much. How many more people were going to suggest that she was lying, or unhinged?**

"I hope not too many people." Sirius said.

"More than I care to admit." Cris said.

**Had Dumbledore suffered like this all summer, as first the Wizengamot, then the International Confederation of Wizards had thrown him from their ranks? Was it anger at Cris, perhaps, that had stopped Dumbledore getting in touch with her for months? **

"No my dear, that isn't it. I think it will explain in the books though." Dumbledore said.

"I hope so," Cris said.

**The two of them were in this together, after all; Dumbledore had believed Cris, announced her version of events to the whole school and then to the wider wizarding community. Anyone who thought Cris was a liar had to think that Dumbledore was, too, or else that Dumbledore had been hoodwinked…**

**They'll know we're right in the end, thought Cris miserably, as Ron got into bed and extinguished the last candle in the dormitory. But she wondered how many more attacks like Seamus' she would have to endure before that time came.**

"That's the chapter." Moody said.

"I think we should stop for lunch." Mrs. Weasley said.

"That works for us." Ron, Sirius, Padfoot and Keiran said. People shook their heads as Mrs. Weasley and a few of the girls got up to help.


	13. Chapter 12: Professor Umbridge

As Molly, Lily and Robin were in the kitchen that gave the others a time to relax some and digest what they read so far. When the three girls came back into the room with a tray of sandwiches, they decided to eat as they read. But before they could a bright white light appeared.

_Hey Everyone, _

_I know that you weren't expecting this but we are bringing in a couple more people, some from the past and someone we felt should be here to listen and pass judgment. These people are Alice Prewett, Frank Longbottom, Robin Lupin and Amelia Bones. Please let them know everything that has happened so far and if possible read the past part of books 3 and 4. _

_Yours Truly,_

_Dominique I. Weasley_

And with that those four people came. When they did they told them everything that happened and read the last few chapters of the last two books. Amelia being who she is looked over at Sirius.

"I'm so sorry Mr. Black; you are cleared of all charges." Amelia said. The group cheered at that.

"Sorry, who is everyone though?" Alice asked. And they introduced themselves again. Kit (younger Robin will be called Kit) was surprised she ended up with Sirius and Alice and Frank hugged their son and Neville looked like he was ready to cry.

"Alright, shall we start the next chapter?" Amelia asked now that they were caught up a few hours later.

"**Chapter 12: Professor Umbridge," **read Kingsley.

"Why does she get her own chapter?" Kit asked with a growl.

"You'll see." Scarlett said to her young mother.

**Seamus dressed at top speed next morning and left the dormitory before Cris had even put on her socks.**

**"****Does he think he'll turn into a nutter if he stays in a room with me too long?" asked Cris loudly, as the hem of Seamus's robes whipped out of sight.**

**"****Don't worry about it, Cris," Dean muttered, hoisting his schoolbag on to his shoulder, "he's just…"**

**But apparently he was unable to say exactly what Seamus was, and after a slightly awkward pause followed him out of the room.**

"Well the two of them are like the two of us." Ron said.

"Very true." Cris said.

**Neville and Ron both gave Cris an it's-his-problem-not-yours look, but Cris was not much consoled. How much more of this would she have to take?**

**"****What's the matter?" asked Hermione five minutes later, catching up with Cris and Ron halfway across the common room as they all headed towards breakfast. "You look absolutely - Oh for heaven's sake."**

"What?" Prongs asked.

"Who knows." Lily said.

**She was staring at the common-room notice board, where a large new sign had been put up.**

"That's nothing new." Padfoot said.

"I think it has to do with what's on the sign." Moony said.

"Oh yeah," Padfoot said.

**GALLONS OF GALLEONS.**

**Pocket money failing to keep pace with your outgoings? Like to earn a little extra gold? Contact Fred and George Weasley, Gryffindor common room, for simple, part-time, virtually painless jobs. (We regret that all work is undertaken at applicant's own risk.) **

"Virtually painless?" Bill asked.

"Well yeah, we didn't exactly know if the effects were different for each person, and we over looked it so that no one was in danger." George said.

"That's actually really smart." Hermione said.

"Why do you sound so surprised?" Fred asked.

**"They are the limit," said Hermione grimly, taking d own the sign, which Fred and George had pinned up over a poster giving the date of the first Hogsmeade weekend in October. "We'll have to talk to them, Ron."**

**Ron looked positively alarmed.**

"Yeah, don't get in our way little brother." George said.

"I think I'll stay out of it." Ron said.

"Ron!" Hermione said.

"I grew up with them, I know what they're like, I don't want to get onto their bad side." Ron said.

"Wise choice," Fred said with a smile.

**"Why?"**

**"Because we're prefects!" said Hermione, as they climbed out through the portrait hole. "It's up to us to stop this kind of thing!"**

**Ron said nothing; Cris could tell from his glum expression that the prospect of stopping Fred and George doing exactly what they liked was not one he found inviting.**

"And it can be dangerous." Ginny said.

"That's true." Keiran said.

**"Anyway, what's up, Cris?" Hermione continued, as they walked down a flight of stairs lined with portraits of old witches and wizards, all of whom ignored them, being engrossed in their own conversation. **

**"You look really angry about something."**

**"Seamus reckons Cris' lying about You-Know-Who," said Ron succinctly, when Cris did not respond.**

**Hermione, who Cris had expected to react angrily on her behalf, sighed.**

**"Yes, Lavender thinks so too," she said gloomily.**

**"Been having a nice little chat with her about whether or not I'm a lying, attention-seeking prat, have you?" Cris said loudly.**

**"No," said Hermione calmly. "I told her to keep her big fat mouth shut about you, actually. And it would be quite nice if you stopped jumping down our throats, Cris, because in case you haven't noticed, Ron and I are on your side."**

**There was a short pause.**

**"Sorry," said Cris in a low voice.**

**"That's quite all right," said Hermione with dignity… Then she shook her head. "Don't you remember what Dumbledore said at the last end-of-term feast?"**

**Cris and Ron both looked at her blankly and Hermione sighed again.**

"You can't really expect me to remember that right?" Cris asked.

"True, you did have a really bad summer." Hermione said.

**"About You-Know-Who. He said his 'gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust —'"**

**"How do you remember stuff like that?" asked Ron, looking at her in admiration.**

"**Oh, yeah, I remember now. Just with everything that happened I can barely remember the end of the year." Cris said looking down. Hermione placed a hand on her shoulder which caused her to look up. **

"**I understand, after something traumatic it happens." Hermione said. Cris nodded and they continued walking. She then turned to answer Ron's question.**

"How do you do that?" Padfoot asked.

"She's a lot like Moony that way." Kit said.

"That she is." Prongs said.

**"I listen, Ron," said Hermione, with a touch of asperity.**

**"So do I, but I still couldn't tell you exactly what -"**

"But there is also remembering." Ginny said.

**"The point," Hermione pressed on loudly, "is that this sort of thing is exactly what Dumbledore was talking about. You-Know-Who's only been back two months and we've already started fighting among ourselves. And the Sorting Hats warning was the same: stand together, be united —"**

**"And Cris got it right last night," retorted Ron. "If that means we're supposed to get matey with the Slytherins-fat chance."**

**"Well, I think it's a pity we're not trying for a bit of inter-house unity," said Hermione crossly. **

"It was worth a shot, but I think it is working now." Hermione said.

"We're friendly; it doesn't exactly mean we are friends yet." Draco said.

"True," Cris said.

**They had reached the foot of the marble staircase. A line of fourth-year Ravenclaws was crossing the Entrance Hall; they caught sight of Cris and hurried to form a tighter group, as though frightened she might attack stragglers.**

**"Yeah, we really ought to be trying to make friends with people like that," said Cris sarcastically.**

**They followed the Ravenclaws into the Great Hall, all looking instinctively at the staff table as they entered. Professor Grubbly-Plank was chatting to Professor Sinistra, the Astronomy teacher, and Hagrid was once again conspicuous only by his absence. The enchanted ceiling above them echoed Cris' mood; it was a miserable rain-cloud grey.**

**"Dumbledore didn't even mention how long that Grubbly-Plank woman's staying," she said, as they made their way across to the Gryffindor table.**

"We don't know when he'll return so we couldn't really give you a date." McGonagall said.

**"Maybe…" said Hermione thoughtfully.**

**"What?" said both Cris and Ron together.**

**"Well… maybe he didn't want to draw attention to Hagrid not being here."**

**"What d'you mean, draw attention to it?" said Ron, half-laughing. "How could we not notice?"**

**Before Hermione could answer, a tall black girl with long braided hair had marched up to Cris.**

**"Hi, Angelina."**

**"Hi," she said briskly, "good summer?" And without waiting for an answer, "Listen, I've been made Gryffindor Quidditch Captain."**

"Sweet!" Charlie said happy for his future wife.

**"Nice one," said Cris, grinning at her; she suspected Angelina's pep talks might not be as longwinded as Oliver Wood's had been, which could only be an improvement. **

"Don't let Oliver hear that." Fred said.

"Don't worry, I won't." Cris said.

**"Yeah, well, we need a new Keeper now Oliver's left. Tryouts are on Friday at five o'clock and I want the whole team there, all right? Then we can see how the new personnel fit in."**

**"Okay," said Cris.**

**Angelina smiled at her and departed.**

**"I'd forgotten Wood had left," said Hermione vaguely as she sat down beside Ron and pulled a plate of toast towards her. "I suppose that will make quite a difference to the team?"**

**"I s'pose," said Cris, taking the bench opposite. "He was a good Keeper…"**

**"Still, it won't hurt to have some new blood, will it?" said Ron.**

Ron blushed thinking of his tryout.

"Are you thinking of trying out?" Prongs asked.

"Yeah," Ron said.

"He isn't bad." Bill said.

**With a whoosh and a clatter, hundreds of owls came soaring in through the upper windows. They descended all over the Hall, bringing letters and packages to their owners and showering the breakfasters with droplets of water; it was clearly raining hard outside. Hedwig was nowhere to be seen, but Cris was hardly surprised; her only correspondent was Sirius, and she doubted Sirius would have anything new to tell her after only twenty-four hours apart. Hermione, however, had to move her orange juice aside quickly to make way for a large damp barn owl bearing a sodden Daily Prophet in its beak.**

**"What are you still getting that for?" said Cris irritably, thinking of Seamus as Hermione placed a Knut in the leather pouch on the owl's leg and it took off again. "I'm not bothering… load of rubbish."**

**"It's best to know what the enemy is saying," said Hermione darkly, and she unfurled the newspaper and disappeared behind it, not emerging until Cris and Ron had finished eating.**

**"Nothing," she said simply, rolling up the newspaper and laying it down by her plate. "Nothing about you or Dumbledore or anything."**

"Well that's good." Gwen said.

**Professor McGonagall was now moving along the table handing out schedules.**

**"Look at today!" groaned Ron. "History of Magic, double Potions, Divination and double Defense Against the Dark Arts… Binns, Snape, Trelawney and that Umbridge woman all in one day!**

"Yikes, that is a bad morning." Padfoot said.

"That is a crazy day." Prongs said.

**I wish Fred and George'd hurry up and get those Skiving Snackboxes sorted…"**

"A prefect asking to skip classes?" Lily asked.

"Well it is a horrid morning Lils." Kit said.

"True," Lily said.

**"Do mine ears deceive me?'" said Fred, arriving with George and squeezing on to the bench beside Cris. "Hogwarts prefects surely don't wish to skive off lessons?"**

**"Look what we've got today," said Ron grumpily, shoving his timetable under Fred's nose. "That's the worst Monday I've ever seen."**

**"Fair point, little bro," said Fred, scanning the column. "You can have a bit of Nosebleed Nougat cheap if you like."**

"Why is it cheap?" Charlie asked.

**"Why's it cheap?" said Ron suspiciously.**

**"Because you'll keep bleeding till you shrivel up, we haven't got an antidote yet," said George, helping himself to a kipper.**

"At least you asked before accepting." Bill said.

"I know, right." Ron said.

**"Cheers," said Ron moodily, pocketing his timetable, "but I think I'll take the lessons."**

**"And speaking of your Skiving Snackboxes," said Hermione, eyeing Fred and George beadily, "you can't advertise for testers on the Gryffindor noticeboard."**

**"Says who?" said George, looking astonished.**

**"Says me," said Hermione. "And Ron."**

"Um, I don't think Ron wants to be included in that." Sirius said.

"I didn't." Ron said.

**"Leave me out of it," said Ron hastily.**

**Hermione glared at him. Fred and George sniggered.**

**"You'll be singing a different tune soon enough, Hermione," said Fred, thickly buttering a crumpet. "You're starting your fifth year; you'll be begging us for a Snackbox before long."**

**"And why would starting fifth year mean I want a Skiving Snackbox?" asked Hermione.**

**"Fifth year's OWL year," said George.**

**"So?"**

**"So you've got your exams coming up, haven't you? They'll be keeping your noses so hard to that grindstone they'll be rubbed raw," said Fred with satisfaction.**

"O.W.L.'s are insane." Said those having already taken OWL's.

"You know what though, this will give us a heads up." Cris said.

"Yeah," Ron, James, Scarlett and Lily J said.

"Or we could change it." Dumbledore said.

"Come on, I don't think it'll be the entire test." Ron said.

"Continue Kingsley," Dumbledore said.

**"Half our year had minor breakdowns coming up to OWLs," said George happily. "Tears and tantrums… Patricia Stimpson kept coming over faint…"**

**"Kenneth Towler came out in boils, d'you remember?" said Fred reminiscently.**

**"That's 'cause you put Bulbadox powder in his pajamas," said George.**

**"Oh yeah," said Fred, grinning. "I'd forgotten… hard to keep track sometimes, isn't it?"**

**"Anyway, it's a nightmare of a year, the fifth," said George. "If you care about exam results, anyway. Fred and I managed to keep our spirits up somehow."**

**"Yeah… you got, what was it, three OWLs each?" said Ron. **

"You two could have done a lot more than that." Mrs. Weasley said.

"We passed in what we needed in order to open our shop." Fred said.

**"Yep," said Fred unconcernedly. "But we feel our futures lie outside the world of academic achievement."**

**"We seriously debated whether we were going to bother coming back for our seventh year," said George brightly, "now that we've got-"**

"You two better not be thinking of leaving school." Mrs. Weasley said.

**He broke off at a warning look from Cris, who knew George had been about to mention the Triwizard winnings she had given them.**

"I wish you would have told us." Ron said.

"It was a secret." Cris said.

**"- now that we've got our OWLs," George said hastily. "I mean, do we really need NEWTs? But we didn't think Mum could take us leaving school early, not on top of Percy turning out to be the world's biggest prat."**

"I'm really sorry," Percy said.

**"We're not going to waste our last year here, though," said Fred, looking affectionately around at the Great Hall. "We're going to use it to do a bit of market research, find out exactly what the average Hogwarts student requires from a joke shop, carefully evaluate the results of our research, then produce products to fit the demand."**

**"But where are you going to get the gold to start a joke shop?" Hermione asked skeptically. "You're going to need all the ingredients and materials - and premises too, I suppose…"**

**Cris did not look at the twins. Her face felt hot; she deliberately dropped her fork and dived down to retrieve it. She heard Fred say overhead, "Ask us no questions and we'll tell you no lies, Hermione. C'mon, George, if we get there early we might be able to sell a few Extendable Ears before Herbology."**

"We always walk together before class, we discuss our plans." George said.

**Cris emerged from under the table to see Fred and George walking away, each carrying a stack of toast.**

**"What did that mean?" said Hermione, looking from Cris to Ron. "'Ask us no questions… ' Does that mean they've already got some gold to start a joke shop?"**

**"You know, I've been wondering about that," said Ron, his brow furrowed. "They bought me a new set of dress robes this summer and I couldn't understand where they got the Galleons…"**

"And now we know!" Hermione and Ron said.

"Of course," Cris said with a smile.

**Cris decided it was time to steer the conversation out of these dangerous waters.**

**"D'you reckon it's true this year's going to be really tough? Because of the exams?"**

**"Oh, yeah," said Ron. "Bound to be, isn't it? OWLs are really important, affect the jobs you can apply for and everything. We get career advice, too, later this year, Bill told me. So you can choose what NEWTs you want to do next year."**

**"D'you know what you want to do after Hogwarts?" Cris asked the other two, as they left the Great Hall shortly afterwards and set off towards their History of Magic classroom.**

**"Not really," said Ron slowly. "Except… well…" He looked slightly sheepish.**

**"What?" Cris urged him.**

**'"Well, it'd be cool to be an Auror,'" said Ron in an off-hand voice.**

"And you are!" said the future kids.

"Still can't believe we work together." Ron said to Draco.

"I know," Draco said.

**"Yeah, it would," said Cris fervently.**

**"But they're, like, the elite," said Ron. "You've got to be really good. What about you, Hermione?"**

**"I don't know," she said. "I think I'd like to do something really worthwhile."**

"But they are worthwhile." Tonks said.

"I know," Hermione said.

**"An Auror's worthwhile!" said Cris.**

**"Yes, it is, but it's not the only worthwhile thing," said Hermione thoughtfully, "I mean, if I could take SPEW further…"**

"Oh Man," Teddy whispered.

"I know," Lily J said.

**Cris and Ron carefully avoided looking at each other.**

**History of Magic was by common consent the most boring subject ever devised by wizard kind. **

"That's true; you shouldn't have Binns teaching anymore." McGonagall said.

"He isn't anymore." Al said.

"Who is?" Dumbledore asked.

"Um, actually it's Hestia." Keiran said.

"Hestia Jones?" Tonks asked.

"Now Shacklebolt." James said. Kingsley looked shocked before he continued reading.

**Professor Binns, their ghost teacher, had a wheezy, droning voice that was almost guaranteed to cause severe drowsiness within ten minutes, five in warm weather. He never varied the form of their lessons, but lectured them without pausing while they took notes, or rather, gazed sleepily into space. Cris and Ron had so far managed to scrape passes in this subject only by copying Hermione's notes before exams; she alone seemed able to resist the soporific power of Binns's voice.**

"How do you do that?" Neville asked.

"I don't know, I just do." Hermione said.

**Today, they suffered an hour and a half's droning on the subject of giant wars. Cris heard just enough within the first ten minutes to appreciate dimly that in another teacher's hands this subject might have been mildly interesting, but then her brain disengaged, and she spent the remaining hour and twenty minutes playing hangman on a corner of her parchment with Ron, while Hermione shot them filthy looks out of the corner of her eye.**

**"How would it be," she asked them coldly, as they left the classroom for break (Binns drifting away through the blackboard), "if I refused to lend you my notes this year?"**

**"We'd fail our OWL," said Ron. "If you want that on your conscience, Hermione…"**

"That would get her." Prongs said.

"These two used it on Moony quite a bit." Kit said.

**"Well, you'd deserve it," she snapped. "You don't even try to listen to him, do you?"**

**"We do try," said Ron. "We just haven't got your brains or your memory or your concentration - you're just cleverer than we are - is it nice to rub it in?"**

**"Oh, don't give me that rubbish," said Hermione, but she looked slightly mollified as she led the way out into the damp courtyard.**

**A fine misty drizzle was falling, so that the people standing in huddles around the edges of the yard looked blurred at the edges. Cris, Ron and Hermione chose a secluded corner under a heavily dripping balcony, turning up the collars of their robes against the chilly September air and talking about what Snape was likely to set them in the first lesson of the year. They had got as far as agreeing that it was likely to be something extremely difficult, just to catch them off guard after a two-month holiday,**

"That's why you study over break." Percy said.

"Yeah, if you can." Cris said.

**when someone walked around the corner. **

"**Hi Cris," **

**It was Cho Chang, and she was on her own again. **

**Cris looked at her and she looked miserable. Cris knew that Cho and Cedric had dated, and she knew that his death affected Cho as much as it did her. **

"**Hey, Cho. Are you alright?" she asked. **

"**I'm as good as I can be. I see you got that stuff off." Cho said. **

"**I know you want to know what happened, I'm just not really ready to talk about it." Cris said. Cho nodded, it seems as she understood what Cris was feeling.**

**"Is that a Tornados badge?" Ron demanded suddenly, pointing to the front of Cho's robes, where a sky-blue badge emblazoned with a double gold 'T' was pinned. "You don't support them, do you?"**

"Does it matter who she supports?" Lily asked.

"No not really," Ron mumbled.

**"Yeah, I do," said Cho.**

**"Have you always supported them, or just since they started winning the league?" said Ron, in what Cris considered an unnecessarily accusatory tone of voice. **

Ginny slapped Ron upside the head.

"She was having a friendly conversation with Cris and you go and ruin it." Ginny said.

"It's alright Ginny, Cho is really emotional." Cris said.

"Some people are just more in tune with their emotions than others." Lily said.

**"I've supported them since I was six," said Cho coolly. "Anyway… see you, Cris."**

**She walked away. Hermione waited until Cho was halfway across the courtyard before rounding on Ron.**

**"You are so tactless!"**

**"What? I only asked her if -"**

**"Couldn't you tell she wanted to talk to Cris on her own?"**

**"So? She could've done, I wasn't stopping -"**

**"Why on earth were you attacking her about her Quidditch team?"**

**"Attacking? I wasn't attacking her, I was only -"**

**"Who cares if she supports the Tornados?"**

**"Oh, come on, half the people you see wearing those badges only bought them last season -"**

**"But what does it matter!"**

**"It means they're not real fans, they're just jumping on the bandwagon -"**

"Ron, shut up," Bill said.

**"That's the bell," said Cris dully, because Ron and Hermione were bickering too loudly to hear it. They did not stop arguing all the way down to Snape's dungeon. **

**And yet, she thought, as they joined the queue lining up outside Snape's classroom door, she had chosen to come and talk to her, hadn't she? She had been Cedric's girlfriend; she could easily have hated Cris for coming out of the Triwizard maze alive when Cedric had died, yet she was talking to her in a perfectly friendly way, not as though she thought her mad, or a liar, or in some horrible way responsible for Cedric's death… yes, she had definitely chosen to come and talk to her, and that made the second time in two days.**

**Even the ominous sound of Snape's dungeon door creaking open did not puncture the small, hopeful bubble that seemed to have swelled in her chest. She filed into the classroom behind Ron and Hermione and followed them to their usual table at the back, where she sat down between Ron and Hermione and ignored the huffy, irritable noises now issuing from both of them.**

**"Settle down," said Snape coldly, shutting the door behind him.**

**There was no real need for the call to order; the moment the class had heard the door close, quiet had fallen and all fidgeting stopped. Snape's mere presence was usually enough to ensure a class's silence.**

"It's because he's scary at times." Luna whispered.

"It's okay, I'll protect you." Draco said kissing her head.

**"Before we begin today's lesson," said Snape, sweeping over to his desk and staring around at them all, "I think it appropriate to remind you that next June you will be sitting an important examination, during which you will prove how much you have learned about the composition and use of magical potions. Moronic though some of this class undoubtedly are, I expect you to scrape an 'Acceptable' in your OWL, or suffer my… displeasure."**

"Really Severus?" McGonagall asked.

**His gaze lingered this time on Neville, who gulped.**

**"After this year, of course, many of you will cease studying with me," Snape went on. "I take only the very best into my NEWT Potions class, which means that some of us will certainly be saying goodbye."**

**His eyes rested on Cris and his lip curled. Cris glared back, feeling a grim pleasure at the idea that she would be able to give up Potions after fifth year.**

**"But we have another year to go before that happy moment of farewell," said Snape softly, "so, whether or not you are intending to attempt NEWT, I advise all of you to concentrate your efforts upon maintaining the high pass level I have come to expect from my OWL students.**

**"Today we will be mixing a potion that often comes up at Ordinary Wizarding Level: the Draught of Peace, a potion to calm anxiety and soothe agitation. Be warned: if you are too heavy-handed with the ingredients you will put the drinker into a heavy and sometimes irreversible sleep, so you will need to pay close attention to what you are doing." On Cris' left, Hermione sat up a little straighter, her expression one of utmost attention. "The ingredients and method -" Snape flicked his wand "- are on the blackboard -" (they appeared there) "- you will find everything you need —" he flicked his wand again "- in the store cupboard —" (the door of the said cupboard sprang open) "- you have an hour and a half… start."**

**Just as Cris, Ron and Hermione had predicted, Snape could hardly have set them a more difficult, fiddly potion. The ingredients had to be added to the cauldron in precisely the right order and quantities; the mixture had to be stirred exactly the right number of times, firstly in clockwise, then in anti-clockwise directions; the heat of the flames on which it was simmering had to be lowered to exactly the right level for a specific number of minutes before the final ingredient was added.**

**"A light silver vapor should now be rising from your potion," called Snape, with ten minutes left to go.**

**Cris, who was sweating profusely, looked desperately around the dungeon. His own cauldron was issuing copious amounts of light grey steam;**

"That's not too bad." Lily said.

"He didn't think so." Cris said. Lily turned to glare at him.

**Ron's was spitting green sparks. Seamus was feverishly prodding the flames at the base of his cauldron with the tip of his wand, as they seemed to be going out. The surface of Hermione's potion, however, was a shimmering mist of silver vapor, and as Snape swept by he looked down his hooked nose at it without comment, which meant he could find nothing to criticize.**

"Well at least there's that." Robin said.

**At Cris' cauldron, however, Snape stopped, and looked down at it with a horrible smirk on his face.**

**"Potter, what is this supposed to be?"**

**The Slytherins at the front of the class all looked up eagerly; they loved hearing Snape taunt Cris.**

**"The Draught of Peace," said Cris tensely.**

**"Tell me, Potter," said Snape softly, "can you read?"**

"If she forgot something minor it's a simple fix, and don't talk to her like that." Lily snapped at Snape.

**Draco Malfoy laughed.**

**"Yes, I can," said Cris, her fingers clenched tightly around her wand.**

**"Read the third line of the instructions for me, Potter."**

**Cris squinted at the blackboard; it was not easy to make out the instructions through the haze of multi-colored steam now filling the dungeon.**

**"'Add powdered moonstone, stir three times counter-clockwise, allow to simmer for seven minutes then add two drops of syrup of hellebore.'"**

**Her heart sank. She had not added syrup of hellebore, but had proceeded straight to the fourth line of the instructions after allowing her potion to simmer for seven minutes.**

**"Did you do everything on the third line, Potter?"**

**"No," said Cris very quietly.**

**"I beg your pardon?"**

**"No," said Cris, more loudly. "I forgot the hellebore."**

"A very simple fix, she can still add it." Lily said.

"You better not have done anything." Prongs said glaring.

**"I know you did, Potter, which means that this mess is utterly worthless. Evanesco."**

"You did what! People were doing ten times worse than her and you purposefully make her fail! No wonder she doesn't like the class. She has the talent!" Lily yelled. Snape recoiled at that.

"I am very sorry." Snape whispered.

"What was that? We didn't hear you." Sirius said.

"I said that I am sorry." Snape said. Everyone was stunned for a second before Ron leaned over to talk to Cris.

"We need your mum to yell at him more often." Ron said.

"No kidding," Cris said.

**The contents of Cris' potion vanished; she was left standing foolishly beside an empty cauldron.**

**"Those of you who have managed to read the instructions, fill one flagon with a sample of your potion, label it clearly with your name and bring it up to my desk for testing," said Snape.**

**"Homework: twelve inches of parchment on the properties of moonstone and its uses in potion making, to be handed in on Thursday."**

**While everyone around him filled their flagons, Cris cleared away her things, seething. Her potion had been no worse than Ron's, which was now giving off a foul odor of bad eggs; or Neville's, which had achieved the consistency of just-mixed cement and which Neville was now having to gouge out of his cauldron; yet it was she, Cris, who would be receiving zero marks for the day's work. She stuffed her wand back into her bag and slumped down on to her seat, watching everyone else march up to Snape's desk with filled and corked flagons. When at long last the bell rang, Cris was first out of the dungeon and had already started her lunch by the time Ron and Hermione joined her in the Great Hall. The ceiling had turned an even murkier grey during the morning. Rain was lashing the high windows.**

**"That was really unfair," said Hermione consolingly, sitting down next to Cris and helping herself to shepherd's pie. "Your potion wasn't nearly as bad as Goyle's; when he put it in his flagon the whole thing shattered and set his robes on fire." **

"Yet you ignore those who were a danger to others, hers wasn't that bad Sev, how could you do that?" Lily asked.

"Mum, it's okay, he'll always be a git to me, there's nothing you can do to change it." Cris said.

"It isn't right though, he is taking an old school grudge onto someone who doesn't deserve it just because they are the daughter of your enemy. She's my daughter too!" Lily screamed. Snape looked down feeling ashamed, he only ever saw Cris' father in her, he never looked in her eyes to see Lily.

**"Yeah, well," said Cris, glowering at her plate, "since when has Snape ever been fair to me?"**

**Neither of the others answered; all three of them knew that Snape and Cris' mutual enmity had been absolute from the moment Cris had set foot in Hogwarts.**

"All because of a stupid grudge." Lily said.

"When we get back we should apologize to him." Prongs said.

"As much as I hate it, I agree, we can't let him ruin her dreams." Padfoot said.

**"I did think he might be a bit better this year," said Hermione in a disappointed voice. "I mean… you know…" she looked around carefully; there were half a dozen empty seats on either side of them and nobody was passing the table "… now he's in the Order and everything."**

"Ah, but he still has to act like nothing has changed." Robin said.

"**Poisonous toadstools don't change their spots," said Ron sagely. "Anyway I've always thought Dumbledore was cracked trusting Snape. Where's the evidence he ever really stopped working for You-Know-Who?"**

"It is there Mr. Weasley, it may be in the books but there is proof." Dumbledore said.

**"I think Dumbledore's probably got plenty of evidence, even if he doesn't share it with you, Ron," snapped Hermione.**

**"Oh, shut up, the pair of you," said Cris heavily, as Ron opened his mouth to argue back.**

**Hermione and Ron both froze, looking angry and offended.**

**"Can't you give it a rest?" said Cris. "You're always having a go at each other, it's driving me mad." And abandoning her shepherd's pie, she swung her schoolbag back over her shoulder and left them sitting there. **

"See, it's driving her mad." Fred said.

"We know," Ron and Hermione said.

"It's who they are; I doubt they will ever change." Ginny said.

"True," Cris said.

**She walked up the marble staircase two steps at a time, past the many students hurrying towards lunch. The anger that had just flared so unexpectedly still blazed inside her, and the vision of Ron and Hermione's shocked faces afforded her a sense of deep satisfaction. Serve them right, she thought, why can't they give it a rest… bickering all the time… it's enough to drive anyone up the wall…**

**She passed the large picture of Sir Cadogan the knight on a landing; Sir Cadogan drew his sword and brandished it fiercely at Cris, who ignored him.**

"Good, don't get him started." Prongs said. Though he was worried, why is she getting angry all the time?

**"Come back, you scurvy dog! Stand fast and fight!" yelled Sir Cadogan in a muffled voice from behind his visor, but Cris merely walked on and when Sir Cadogan attempted to follow her by running into a neighboring picture, he was rebuffed by its inhabitant, a large and angry-looking wolfhound.**

**Cris spent the rest of the lunch hour sitting alone underneath the trapdoor at the top of North Tower. Consequently, she was the first to ascend the silver ladder that led to Sibyll Trelawney's classroom when the bell rang.**

**After Potions, Divination was Cris' least favorite class, which was due mainly to Professor Trelawney's habit of predicting her premature death every few lessons.**

"She is always predicting someone's death though." Tonks said.

"I know, it's just really annoying." Cris said.

**A thin woman, heavily draped in shawls and glittering with strings of beads, she always reminded Cris of some kind of insect, with her glasses hugely magnifying her eyes. She was busy putting copies of battered leather-bound books on each of the spindly little tables with which her room was littered when Cris entered the room, but the light cast by the lamps covered by scarves and the low-burning, sickly-scented fire was so dim she appeared not to notice her as she took a seat in the shadows.**

**The rest of the class arrived over the next five minutes. Ron emerged from the trapdoor, looked around carefully, spotted Cris and made directly for her, or as directly as he could while having to wend his way between tables, chairs and overstuffed pouffes.**

**"Hermione and me have stopped arguing," he said, sitting down beside Cris.**

**"Good," grunted Cris.**

**"But Hermione says she thinks it would be nice if you stopped taking out your temper on us," said Ron.**

**"I'm not -"**

**"I'm just passing on the message," said Ron, talking over her. "But I reckon she's right. It's not our fault how Seamus and Snape treat you."**

**"I never said it -"**

**"Good-day," said Professor Trelawney in her usual misty, dreamy voice, and Cris broke off, again feeling both annoyed and slightly ashamed of herself. "And welcome back to Divination. I have, of course, been following your fortunes most carefully over the holidays, and am delighted to see that you have all returned to Hogwarts safely - as, of course, I knew you would. **

"But she's also has had some real predictions." Cris said.

"Yeah, like the one in the third book." Ginny said.

**"You will find on the tables before you copies of The Dream Oracle, by Inigo Imago. Dream interpretation is a most important means of divining the future and one that may very probably be tested in your OWL. Not, of course, that I believe examination passes or failures are of the remotest importance when it comes to the sacred art of divination. If you have the Seeing Eye, certificates and grades matter very little. However, the Headmaster likes you to sit the examination, so…"**

**Her voice trailed away delicately, leaving them all in no doubt that Professor Trelawney considered her subject above such sordid matters as examinations.**

**"Turn, please, to the introduction and read what Imago has to say on the matter of dream interpretation. Then, divide into pairs. Use The Dream Oracle to interpret each other's most recent dreams. Carry on."**

**The one good thing to be said for this lesson was that it was not a double period. By the time they had all finished reading the introduction of the book, they had barely ten minutes left for dream interpretation. At the table next to Cris and Ron, Dean had paired up with Neville, who immediately embarked on a long-winded explanation of a nightmare involving a pair of giant scissors wearing his grandmother's best hat; Cris and Ron merely looked at each other glumly.**

**"I never remember my dreams," said Ron, "you say one."**

**"You must remember one of them," said Cris impatiently.**

**She was not going to share her dreams with anyone. She knew perfectly well what her regular nightmare about a graveyard meant, she did not need Ron or Professor Trelawney or the stupid Dream Oracle to tell her. **

"Well yeah, that actually happened, no wonder you have nightmares about it." Lily said sadly.

"It got better with the Quidditch practices; my mind would be busy for something else. But now sense I got band they've been getting worse." Cris said. Fred, George, Ron, Hermione and Ginny glared at Umbridge.

**"Well, I dreamed I was playing Quidditch the other night," said Ron, screwing up his face in an effort to remember.**

"That's not different." Charlie said.

"I know," Cris said.

**"What d'you reckon that means?"**

**"Probably that you're going to be eaten by a giant marshmallow or something," said Cris, turning the pages of The Dream Oracle without interest.**

"I was trying so hard not to laugh." Ron said.

"Glad I can help." Cris said with a smile.

**It was very dull work looking up bits of dreams in the Oracle and Cris was not cheered up when Professor Trelawney set them the task of keeping a dream diary for a month as homework. When the bell went, she and Ron led the way back down the ladder, Ron grumbling loudly.**

**"D'you realize how much homework we've got already? Binns set us a foot-and-a-half-long essay on giant wars, Snape wants a foot on the use of moonstones, and now we've got a month's dream diary from Trelawney! Fred and George weren't wrong about OWL year, were they? That Umbridge woman had better not give us any…"**

"No, she'll just make us read the entire book." Cris muttered under her breath.

**When they entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom they found Professor Umbridge already seated at the teacher's desk, wearing the fluffy pink cardigan of the night before and the black velvet bow on top of her head. Cris was again reminded forcibly of a large fly perched unwisely on top of an even larger toad.**

**The class was quiet as it entered the room; Professor Umbridge was, as yet, an unknown quantity and nobody knew how strict a disciplinarian she was likely to be.**

**"Well, good afternoon!" she said, when finally the whole class had sat down.**

**A few people mumbled "good afternoon" in reply.**

**"Tut, tut," said Professor Umbridge. "That won't do, now, will it? I should like you, please, to reply 'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge'. One more time, please. Good afternoon, class!"**

"They aren't in kindergarten; no wonder the students hate you." Robin said.

**"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge," they chanted back at her.**

**"There, now," said Professor Umbridge sweetly. "That wasn't too difficult, was it? Wands away and quills out, please."**

"That's not a good sign." Bill said.

**Many of the class exchanged gloomy looks; the order "wands away" had never yet been followed by a lesson they had found interesting. Cris shoved her wand back inside her bag and pulled out quill, ink and parchment. Professor Umbridge opened her handbag, extracted her own wand, which was an unusually short one, and tapped the blackboard sharply with it; words appeared on the board at once:**

**Defense Against the Dark Arts A Return to Basic Principles**

"They don't need that; I think they have the basics down after four years." Remus said.

**"Well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn't it?" stated Professor Umbridge, turning to face the class with her hands clasped neatly in front of her.**

**"The constant changing of teachers, many of whom do not seem to have followed any Ministry approved curriculum, has unfortunately resulted in your being far below the standard we would expect to see in your OWL year.**

"It's not their fault that the job is jinxed." Bill said.

"You'll be lucky to get out of their sane." Charlie said with a bright smile.

**"You will be pleased to know, however, that these problems are now to be rectified. We will be following a carefully structured, theory-centered, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic this year.**

"Theory centered? Great, they'll probably blow up the spell when they test it out, good job, in order to rectify the situation you'll purposely fail them." Moony said.

**Copy down the following, please."**

**She rapped the blackboard again; the first message vanished and was replaced by: Course Aims:**

**1. Understanding the principles underlying defensive magic.**

**2. Learning to recognize situations in which defensive magic can legally be used.**

**3. Placing the use of defensive magic in a context for practical use.**

"But where's using it? You can't do the spells without practicing them; even the Minister should know that." Tonks said.

"You saw how many times it took for Cris to get down the Patronus, it takes a while." Charlie said.

**For a couple of minutes the room was full of the sound of scratching quills on parchment. When everyone had copied down Professor Umbridge's three course aims she asked, "Has everybody got a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?"**

**There was a dull murmur of assent throughout the class.**

**"I think we'll try that again," said Professor Umbridge. "When I ask you a question, I should like you to reply, 'Yes, Professor Umbridge', or 'No, Professor Umbridge'. So: has everyone got a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?"**

**"Yes, Professor Umbridge," rang through the room. **

"Of course they have it; it was one the book list." Bill said.

**"Good," said Professor Umbridge. "I should like you to turn to page five and read 'Chapter One, Basics for Beginners'. There will be no need to talk."**

"Or think," said the group.

"Was it the same for every class?" Remus asked.

"Yes," replied the current students.

**Professor Umbridge left the blackboard and settled herself in the chair behind the teacher's desk, observing them all closely with those pouchy toad's eyes. Cris turned to page five of her copy of Defensive Magical Theory and started to read.**

**It was desperately dull, quite as bad as listening to Professor Binns. She felt her concentration sliding away from her; she had soon read the same line half a dozen times without taking in more than the first few words. Several silent minutes passed. Next to her, Ron was absent-mindedly turning his quill over and over in his fingers, staring at the same spot on the page. Cris looked right and received a surprise to shake her out of her torpor. **

**Hermione had not even opened her copy of Defensive Magical Theory.**

"What has the world come to?" Bill asked looking the girl.

"Shut up," Hermione said blushing.

**She was staring fixedly at Professor Umbridge with her hand in the air.**

**Cris could not remember Hermione ever neglecting to read when instructed to, or indeed resisting the temptation to open any book that came under her nose.**

Cris received a pillow to the face courtesy of Hermione.

**She looked at her enquiringly, but she merely shook her head slightly to indicate that she was not about to answer questions, and continued to stare at Professor Umbridge, who was looking just as resolutely in another direction.**

**After several more minutes had passed, however, Cris was not the only one watching Hermione. The chapter they had been instructed to read was so tedious that more and more people were choosing to watch Hermione's mute attempt to catch Professor Umbridge's eye rather than struggle on with 'Basics for Beginners'.**

"Which none of them are." Bill said glaring at the toad. She merely glared back at him.

**When more than half the class were staring at Hermione rather than at their books, Professor Umbridge seemed to decide that she could ignore the situation no longer.**

**"Did you want to ask something about the chapter, dear?" she asked Hermione, as though she had only just noticed her.**

**"Not about the chapter, no," said Hermione.**

**"Well, we're reading just now," said Professor Umbridge, showing her small pointed teeth. "If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of class."**

**"I've got a query about your course aims," said Hermione.**

"I don't think she was expecting that." Charlie said.

"That's what you get when deal with fifth years though." Sirius said.

**Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows.**

**"And your name is?"**

**"Hermione Granger," said Hermione.**

**"Well, Miss Granger, I think the course aims are perfectly clear if you read them through carefully," said Professor Umbridge in a voice of determined sweetness.**

**"Well, I don't," said Hermione bluntly. "There's nothing written up there about using defensive spells."**

**There was a short silence in which many members of the class turned their heads to frown at the three course aims still written on the blackboard.**

"Yeah, Hermione will get the answers needed." George said.

**"Using defensive spells?" Professor Umbridge repeated with a little laugh. "Why, I can't imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to use a defensive spell, Miss Granger. You surely aren't expecting to be attacked during class?"**

"Well no, but aren't classes supposed to prepare you for the real world?" Lily asked.

"Exactly, prepare, you need to prepare them. Not make them read a stupid book." Kit said.

**"We're not going to use magic?" Ron exclaimed loudly.**

**"Students raise their hands when they wish to speak in my class, Mr. -?"**

**"Weasley," said Ron, thrusting his hand into the air.**

"This does not sound like it's going to be good." Bill said.

"It's not." George said.

**Professor Umbridge, smiling still more widely, turned her back on him. Cris and Hermione immediately raised their hands too. Professor Umbridge's pouchy eyes lingered on Cris for a moment before she addressed Hermione.**

**"Yes, Miss Granger? You wanted to ask something else?"**

**"Yes," said Hermione. "Surely the whole point of Defense Against the Dark Arts is to practice defensive spells?"**

"Yes," replied the room besides Umbridge.

**"Are you a Ministry-trained educational expert, Miss Granger?" asked Professor Umbridge, in her falsely sweet voice.**

"No, but she could teach it a lot better than you can." Charlie snarled at the toad in the room.

**"No, but -"**

**"Well then, I'm afraid you are not qualified to decide what the 'whole point' of any class is. Wizards much older and cleverer than you have devised our new program of study. You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way -"**

**"What use is that?" said Cris loudly. "If we're going to be attacked, it won't be in a -"**

**"Hand, Miss Potter!" sang Professor Umbridge.**

**Cris thrust her fist in the air. Again, Professor Umbridge promptly turned away from her, but now several other people had their hands up, too.**

**"And your name is?" Professor Umbridge said to Dean.**

**"Dean Thomas."**

**"Well, Mr. Thomas?"**

**"Well, it's like Cris said, isn't it?" said Dean. "If we're going to be attacked, it won't be risk free."**

**"I repeat," said Professor Umbridge, smiling in a very irritating fashion at Dean, "do you expect to be attacked during my classes?"**

"No, but you should at least practice it." Bill said. The marauders were seething and resisting very hard to attack the toad right then and there.

**"No, but -"**

**Professor Umbridge talked over him. "I do not wish to criticize the way things have been run in this school," she said, **

"Ah, but you're going to anyway. The whole point is to prepare them and you are not doing so." Remus said.

**an unconvincing smile stretching her wide mouth, "but you have been exposed to some very irresponsible wizards in this class, very irresponsible indeed - not to mention," she gave a nasty little laugh, "extremely dangerous half-breeds."**

**"If you mean Professor Lupin," piped up Dean angrily, "he was the best we ever -"**

"Thank you Dean." Remus said.

"A lot of the house was like that. We don't care what you are, it's not your fault you were bitten." Ginny said.

**"Hand, Mr. Thomas! As I was saying - you have been introduced to spells that have been complex, inappropriate to your age group and potentially lethal. You have been frightened into believing that you are likely to meet Dark attacks every other day -"**

"They aren't frightened, they are prepared. And you're the stupid idiot not preparing them." Keiran said.

**"No we haven't," Hermione said, "we just -"**

**"Your hand is not up, Miss Granger!"**

**Hermione put up her hand. Professor Umbridge turned away from her.**

**"It is my understanding that my predecessor not only performed illegal curses in front of you, he actually performed them on you."**

"Ah, but now I can throw off the Imperious, can you?" Cris asked. Fudge and Umbridge looked at her, wondering how powerful she actually is.

**"Well, he turned out to be a maniac, didn't he?" said Dean hotly. "Mind you, we still learned loads."**

**"Your hand is not up, Mr. Thomas!" trilled Professor Umbridge. "Now, it is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be more than sufficient to get you through your examination, which, after all, is what school is all about.**

"Ah, but the exam also had you to use the spells as well, and if they can't do it, how does that reflect on the Ministry?" Moony asked. Fudge paled at that.

**And your name is?" she added, staring at Parvati, whose hand had just shot up.**

**"Parvati Patil, and isn't there a practical bit in our Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL? Aren't we supposed to show that we can actually do the counter-curses and things?"**

**"As long as you have studied the theory hard enough, there is no reason why you should not be able to perform the spells under carefully controlled examination conditions," said Professor Umbridge dismissively.**

"Yeah right, it won't work, good luck." Prongs snarled.

**"Without ever practicing them beforehand?" said Parvati incredulously. "Are you telling us that the first time we'll get to do the spells will be during our exam?"**

**"I repeat, as long as you have studied the theory hard enough -"**

**"And what good's theory going to be in the real world?" said Cris loudly, her fist in the air again.**

"Cris, calm down, don't work her up." Sirius said.

**Professor Umbridge looked up.**

**"This is school, Miss Potter, not the real world," she said softly.**

"But it helps us prepare for the real world. If we can't defend ourselves we can easily get killed." Luna said.

**"So we're not supposed to be prepared for what's waiting for us out there?"**

**"There is nothing waiting out there, Miss Potter."**

**"Oh, yeah?" said Cris. Her temper, which seemed to have been bubbling just beneath the surface all day, was reaching boiling point.**

**"Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourselves?" enquired Professor Umbridge in a horribly honeyed voice.**

**"Hmm, let's think…" said Cris in a mock thoughtful voice. "Maybe… Lord Voldemort!"**

"This is not going to be good." Bill said.

"No, it's not." Cris said. But then she smiled her detentions will be in this, Umbridge will get hers.

**Ron gasped; Lavender Brown uttered a little scream; Neville slipped sideways off his stool.**

**Professor Umbridge, however, did not flinch. She was staring at Cris with a grimly satisfied expression on her face.**

**"Ten points from Gryffindor, Miss Potter."**

**The classroom was silent and still. Everyone was staring at either Umbridge or Cris.**

**"Now, let me make a few things quite plain."**

**Professor Umbridge stood up and leaned towards them, her stubby-fingered hands splayed on her desk.**

**"You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead -"**

"He wasn't dead to begin with." Cris said.

"No, Tom worked out how to remain alive even after his defeat." Dumbledore said. The group from the future looked at each other they were told the story but not all of it.

**"He wasn't dead," said Cris angrily, "but yeah, he's returned!"**

**'"Miss-Potter-you-have-already-lost-your-house-ten -points-do-not-make-matters-worse-for yourself," said Professor Umbridge in one breath without looking at her. "As I was saying, you have been informed that a certain Dark wizard is at large once again. This is a lie."**

**"It is NOT a lie!" said Cris. "I saw him, I fought him!"**

**"Detention, Miss Potter!" said Professor Umbridge triumphantly.**

"You were baiting her to begin with!" Lily shouted glaring at the toad.

"Teachers shouldn't bait students, but then again you aren't a teacher, you're a toad." Charlie said. He smirked knowing that the toad couldn't do anything to him.

**"Tomorrow evening. Five o'clock. My office. I repeat, this is a lie. The Ministry of Magic guarantees that you are not in danger from any Dark wizard. If you are still worried, by all means come and see me outside class hours. If someone is alarming you with fibs about reborn Dark wizards, I would like to hear about it. I am here to help. I am your friend. And now, you will kindly continue you're reading. Page five, 'Basics for Beginners'."**

**Professor Umbridge sat down behind her desk. Cris, however, stood up. Everyone was staring at her; Seamus looked half-scared, half-fascinated.**

**"Cris, no!" Hermione whispered in a warning voice, tugging at her sleeve, but Cris jerked her arm out of her reach.**

**"So, according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord, did he?" Cris asked, her voice shaking. **

"Cris, as much as I want you to tell the truth this is dangerous territory now." Sirius said.

"That would have been helpful earlier you know." Cris said.

**There was a collective intake of breath from the class, for none of them, apart from Ron and Hermione, had ever heard Cris talk about what had happened on the night Cedric had died.**

**They stared avidly from Cris to Professor Umbridge, who had raised her eyes and was staring at her without a trace of a fake smile on her face.**

**"Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident," she said coldly.**

"No it wasn't Dolores, he was killed." Fudge said. Umbridge sat back shocked, her job is on the line.

**"It was murder," said Cris. She could feel herself shaking. She had hardly spoken to anyone about this, least of all thirty eagerly listening classmates. "Voldemort killed him and you know it."**

**Professor Umbridge's face was quite blank. For a moment, Cris thought she was going to scream at her. Then she said, in her softest, most sweetly girlish voice, "Come here, Miss Potter, dear."**

"Don't you dare harm her in any way." Sirius said snarling at the toad.

**She kicked her chair aside, strode around Ron and Hermione and up to the teacher's desk. She could feel the rest of the class holding its breath. She felt so angry she did not care what happened next.**

**Professor Umbridge pulled a small roll of pink parchment out of her handbag, stretched it out on the desk, dipped her quill into a bottle of ink and started scribbling, hunched over so that Cris could not see what she was writing. Nobody spoke. After a minute or so she rolled up the parchment and tapped it with her wand; it sealed itself seamlessly so that she could not open it.**

**"Take this to Professor McGonagall, dear," said Professor Umbridge, holding out the note to her. She took it from her without saying a word, turned on her heel and left the room, not even looking back at Ron and Hermione, slamming the classroom door shut behind her. She walked very fast along the corridor, the note to McGonagall clutched tight in her hand, and turning a corner walked slap into Peeves the poltergeist, a wide-mouthed little man floating on his back in midair, juggling several inkwells.**

**"Why it's Potty Wee Potter!" cackled Peeves,**

"He calls me that too." Prongs said.

"He does that to us too." James and Al said.

"But you are Weasley's too." Bill said.

"I know, but he does anyway." James said.

**allowing two of the inkwells to fall to the ground where they smashed and spattered the walls with ink; Cris jumped backwards out of the way with a snarl.**

**"Get out of it, Peeves."**

**"Oooh, Crackpot's feeling cranky" said Peeves, pursuing Cris along the corridor, leering as he zoomed along above her. "What is it this time, my fine Potty friend? Hearing voices? Seeing visions? Speaking in -" Peeves blew a gigantic raspberry "— tongues?"**

**"I said, leave me ALONE!" Cris shouted, running down the nearest flight of stairs, but Peeves merely slid down the banister on his back beside her.**

**"Oh, most think she's barking, the potty wee las, But some are more kindly and think she's just sad, but Peevesy knows better and says that she's mad — " **

"Okay, as much as I like Peeves he is being really ridiculous." Padfoot said.

"I know," Prongs said.

**"SHUT UP!"**

**A door to her left flew open and Professor McGonagall emerged from her office looking grim and slightly harassed.**

**"What on earth are you shouting about, Potter?" she snapped, as Peeves cackled gleefully and zoomed out of sight. '"Why aren't you in class?"**

**"I've been sent to see you," said Cris stiffly.**

**"Sent? What do you mean, sent?"**

"It is not our system to send students to their head of house." McGonagall said.

**She held out the note from Professor Umbridge. Professor McGonagall took it from her, frowning, slit it open with a tap of her wand, stretched it out and began to read. Her eyes zoomed from side to side behind their square spectacles as she read what Umbridge had written, and with each line they became narrower.**

**"Come in here, Potter."**

**She followed her inside her study. The door closed automatically behind her.**

**"Well?" said Professor McGonagall, rounding on her. "Is this true?"**

**"Is what true?" Cris asked, rather more aggressively than she had intended. "Professor?" she added, in an attempt to sound more polite.**

**"Is it true that you shouted at Professor Umbridge?"**

**"Yes," said Cris.**

**"You called her a liar?"**

**"Yes."**

**"You told her He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back?"**

**"Yes."**

**Professor McGonagall sat down behind her desk, watching Cris closely. Then she said, "Have a biscuit, Potter."**

"Wait, what?" Prongs asked.

"Exactly what it said Prongs; she offered your daughter a biscuit." Moony said.

"But you've never done that to us, Minnie." Padfoot said.

"Different set of circumstances." McGonagall said motioning for Kingsley to continue.

**"Have - what?"**

**"Have a biscuit," she repeated impatiently, indicating a tartan tin of cookies lying on top of one of the piles of papers on her desk. "And sit down."**

**There had been a previous occasion when Cris, expecting to be caned by Professor McGonagall, had instead been appointed by her to the Gryffindor Quidditch team.**

What year was that?" Kit asked.

"First year." Cris said.

**She sank into a chair opposite her and helped herself to a Ginger Newt, feeling just as confused and wrong footed as she had done on that occasion.**

**Professor McGonagall set down Professor Umbridge's note and looked very seriously at Cris.**

**"Potter, you need to be careful."**

**Cris swallowed her mouthful of Ginger Newt and stared at her. Her tone of voice was not at all what she was used to; it was not brisk, crisp and stern; it was low and anxious and somehow much more human than usual.**

**"Misbehavior in Dolores Umbridge's class could cost you much more than house points and a detention."**

"Yeah, she'll love to expel you for no reason at all." Remus said.

"But she won't. Not with Dumbledore there." Prongs said.

**"What do you -?"**

**"Potter, use your common sense," snapped Professor McGonagall, with an abrupt return to her usual manner. "You know where she comes from, you must know to whom she is reporting."**

**The bell rang for the end of the lesson. Overhead and all around came the elephantine sounds of hundreds of students on the move.**

**"It says here she's given you detention every evening this week, starting tomorrow," Professor McGonagall said, looking down at Umbridge's note again.**

**"Every evening this week!" Cris repeated, horrified. "But, Professor, couldn't you -?"**

**"No, I couldn't," said Professor McGonagall flatly.**

"Now that is completely unfair." Lily said.

"So you're giving detentions, a week of detentions for telling the truth?" Kit asked.

"Apparently, I just hope it's nothing too bad." Prongs said.

**"But -"**

**"She is your teacher and has every right to give you detention. You will go to her room at five o'clock tomorrow for the first one. Just remember: tread carefully around Dolores Umbridge."**

**"But I was telling the truth!" said Cris, outraged. "Voldemort is back, you know he is; Professor Dumbledore knows he is -"**

**"For heaven's sake, Potter!" said Professor McGonagall, straightening her glasses angrily (she had winced horribly when she had used Voldemort's name). **

**"Do you really think this is about truth or lies? It's about keeping your head down and your temper under control!" **

"Sorry, sometimes it's hard." Cris said.

"You are like your mother that way." McGonagall said. Cris and Lily smiled at her as Kingsley continued.

**She stood up, nostrils wide and mouth very thin, and Cris stood up, too.**

**"Have another biscuit," she said irritably, thrusting the tin at her.**

**"No, thanks," said Cris coldly.**

**"Don't be ridiculous," she snapped.**

**She took one.**

**"Thanks," she said grudgingly.**

**"Didn't you listen to Dolores Umbridge's speech at the start-of-term feast, Potter?"**

**"Yeah," said Cris. "Yeah… she said… progress will be prohibited or… well, it meant that… that the Ministry of Magic is trying to interfere at Hogwarts."**

**Professor McGonagall eyed her closely for a moment, then sniffed, walked around her desk and held open the door for her.**

**"Well, I'm glad you listen to Hermione Granger at any rate," she said, pointing her out of her office.**

"Well at least there's that." Robin said with a smile.

"That's the chapter." Kingsley said. Tonks took the book and Cris smiled evilly at the next chapter.

"Don't worry Bambi, she'll get hers soon." Fred said.

"Yeah, and we'll have a hard time keeping people from attacking, personally I don't want to stop them George said taking her scared hand. Tonks started the next chapter.


	14. Chapter 13: Detention with Dolores

"**Chapter 13: Detention with Dolores," **Tonks read.

Umbridge's eyes went wide and the current students had sadistic smiles on their faces.

"I hope it's nothing too bad." Prongs said.

**Dinner in the Great Hall that night was not a pleasant experience for Cris. The news about her shouting match with Umbridge had traveled exceptionally fast even by Hogwarts' standards. She heard whispers all around her as she sat eating between Ron and Hermione. The funny thing was that none of the whisperers seemed to mind her overhearing what they were saying about her.**

**On the contrary, it was as though they were hoping she would get angry and start shouting again, so that they could hear her story first-hand.**

**"****She says she saw Cedric Diggory murdered…"**

**"****She reckons she dueled with You-Know-Who…"**

**"****Come off it…"**

**"****Who does she think she's kidding?"**

**"****Pur-Lease…"**

"They have another thing coming if they think she'll talk about it again." Lily said.

"**What I don't get," said Cris through clenched teeth, laying down her knife and fork (her hands were shaking too much to hold them steady), "is why they all believed the story two months ago when Dumbledore told them…"**

"Pup, I don't think they did." Sirius said.

"I know, I kind of figured that out." Cris said.

**"****The thing is, Cris, I'm not sure they did," said Hermione grimly. "Oh, let's get out of here." She slammed down her own knife and fork; Ron looked longingly at his half-finished apple pie but followed suit. People stared at them all the way out of the Hall.**

"They aren't a show." Mrs. Weasley said.

"They are kids, gossip is like that." Bill said.

**"****What d'you mean, you're not sure they believed Dumbledore?" Cris asked Hermione when they reached the first-floor landing.**

**"****Look, you don't understand what it was like after it happened," said Hermione quietly. "You arrived back in the middle of the lawn clutching Cedric's dead body… none of us saw what happened in the maze… we just had Dumbledore's word for it that You-Know-Who had come back and killed Cedric and fought you."**

**"****Which is the truth!" said Cris loudly.**

**"I know it is, Cris, so will you please stop biting my head off?" said Hermione wearily. "It's just that before the truth could sink in, everyone went home for the summer, where they spent two months reading about how you're a nutcase and Dumbledore's going senile!"**

"Yeah, that doesn't really help at all." Kit said.

**Rain pounded on the windowpanes as they strode along the empty corridors back to Gryffindor Tower. Cris felt as though her first day had lasted a week, but she still had a mountain of homework to do before bed. A dull pounding pain was developing over her right eye. She glanced out of a rain-washed window at the dark grounds as they turned into the Fat Lady's corridor. There was still no light in Hagrid's cabin.**

**"****Mimbulus mimbletonia," said Hermione, before the Fat Lady could ask. The portrait swung open to reveal the hole behind it and the three of them scrambled through it.**

**The common room was almost empty; nearly everyone was still down at dinner. Crookshanks uncoiled himself from an armchair and trotted to meet them, purring loudly, and when Cris, Ron and Hermione took their three favorite chairs at the fireside he leapt lightly on to Hermione's lap and curled up there like a furry ginger cushion. Cris gazed into the flames, feeling drained and exhausted.**

**"****How can Dumbledore have let this happen?" Hermione cried suddenly, making Cris and Ron jump; Crookshanks leapt off her, looking affronted. She pounded the arms of her chair in fury, so that bits of stuffing leaked out of the holes. "How can he let that terrible woman teach us? And in our OWL year, too!"**

"I didn't have much choice in the matter." Dumbledore said.

"I can imagine, not many people want to take the position." Robin said.

**"****Well, we've never had great Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers, have we, other than Remus that is?" said Cris.**

"You still call me Remus to your friends." Remus said with a smile.

"Well yeah, I figured that you would appreciate it more." Cris said. Remus smiled at his cub nestled between her boyfriends and Tonks continued to read.

**"You know what it's like, Hagrid told us, nobody wants the job; they say it's jinxed."**

**"****Yes, but to employ someone who's actually refusing to let us do magic! What's Dumbledore playing at?"**

**"****And she's trying to get people to spy for her," said Ron darkly. "Remember when she said she wanted us to come and tell her if we hear anyone saying You-Know-Who's back?"**

**"****Of course she's here to spy on us all, that's obvious, why else would Fudge have wanted her to come?" snapped Hermione.**

**"****Don't start arguing again," said Cris wearily, as Ron opened his mouth to retaliate. "Can't we just… let's just do that homework; get it out of the way…" **

"Always the peacemaker." Sirius said.

"Yep," Cris said.

**They collected their schoolbags from a corner and returned to the chairs by the fire. People were coming back from dinner now. Cris kept her face averted from the portrait hole, but could still sense the stares she was attracting.**

**"****Shall we do Snape's stuff first?" said Ron, dipping his quill into his ink. "The properties… of moonstone… and its uses… in potion-making…" he muttered, writing the words across the top of his parchment as he spoke them. "There." He underlined the title, then looked up expectantly at Hermione.**

**"****So, what are the properties of moonstone and its uses in potion-making?"**

"Ron!" cried Mrs. Weasley.

"What, she helps us out." Ron said.

**But Hermione was not listening; she was squinting over into the far corner of the room, where Fred, George and Lee Jordan were now sitting at the center of a knot of innocent-looking first years, all of whom were chewing something that seemed to have come out of a large paper bag that Fred was holding.**

**"****No, I'm sorry, they've gone too far," she said, standing up and looking positively furious. "Come on, Ron."**

**"****I - what?" said Ron, plainly playing for time. "No- come on, Hermione - we can't tell them off for giving out sweets."**

"Yeah, they were just giving out sweets." Prongs said.

"But what kind of sweet is it?" Moony asked.

**"****You know perfectly well that those are bits of Nosebleed Nougat or - or Puking Pastilles or -"**

**"****Fainting Fancies?" Cris suggested quietly.**

**One by one, as though hit over the head with an invisible mallet, the first-years were slumping unconscious in their seats; some slid right on to the floor, others merely hung over the arms of their chairs, their tongues lolling out. Most of the people watching were laughing; Hermione, however, squared her shoulders and marched directly over to where Fred and George now stood with clipboards, closely observing the unconscious first-years. Ron rose halfway out of his chair, hovered uncertainly for a moment or two, then muttered to Cris, "She's got it under control," before sinking as low in his chair as his lanky frame permitted.**

"You didn't want to cross them did you?" Charlie asked.

"No, I know how they can be." Ron said. Fred and George just smiled at their paranoid brother.

**"****That's enough!" Hermione said forcefully to Fred and George, both of whom looked up in mild surprise.**

**"****Yeah, you're right," said George, nodding, "this dosage looks strong enough, doesn't it?" **

"I don't think that is what she means." Tonks said shaking her head.

**"****I told you this morning, you can't test your rubbish on students!"**

"It's not rubbish Aunt Hermione." said the future kids.

**"****We're paying them!" said Fred indignantly.**

**"****I don't care, it could be dangerous!"**

**"****Rubbish," said Fred.**

**"****Calm down, Hermione, they're fine!" said Lee reassuringly as he walked from first-year to first year, inserting purple sweets into their open mouths.**

**"****Yeah, look, they're coming round now," said George.**

**A few of the first-years were indeed stirring. Several looked so shocked to find themselves lying on the floor, or dangling off their chairs, that Cris was sure Fred and George had not warned them what the sweets were going to do.**

"We did warn them,"

"But we also told them that they may not work."

"And it did, we weren't sure if it would or not." They said together.

**"****Feel all right?" said George kindly to a small dark-haired girl lying at his feet.**

**"****I - I think so," she said shakily.**

**"****Excellent," said Fred happily, but the next second Hermione had snatched both his clipboard and the paper bag of Fainting Fancies from his hands.**

"Hermione, they wouldn't intentionally harm them." Bill said.

**"****It is NOT excellent!"**

**"****Course it is, they're alive, aren't they?" said Fred angrily.**

**"****You can't do this, what if you made one of them really ill?"**

**"****We're not going to make them ill, we've already tested them all on ourselves, this is just to see if everyone reacts the same -"**

**"****If you don't stop doing it, I'm going to -"**

**"****Put us in detention?" said Fred, in an I'd-like-to-see-you-try-it voice.**

**"****Make us write lines?" said George, smirking.**

**Onlookers all over the room were laughing. Hermione drew herself up to her full height; **

"Which isn't very tall." Ron said.

"I'm taller than Cris." Hermione said.

"Not for long." James said.

"Yeah, Mum is taller than you." Al said. Hermione mock pouted while Cris smiled widely.

**her eyes were narrowed and her bushy hair seemed to crackle with electricity.**

**"No," she said, her voice quivering with anger, "but I will write to your mother."**

"Ooh, the mother card." Padfoot said.

"Ouch," Prongs said.

**"You wouldn't," said George, horrified, taking a step back from her.**

**"Oh, yes, I would," said Hermione grimly. "I can't stop you eating the stupid things yourselves, but you're not to give them to the first-years."**

**Fred and George looked thunderstruck. It was clear that as far as they were concerned, Hermione's threat was way below the belt. With a last threatening look at them, she thrust Fred's clipboard and the bag of Fancies back into his arms, and stalked back to her chair by the fire. Ron was now so low in his seat that his nose was roughly level with his knees.**

**"Thank you for your support, Ron," Hermione said acidly.**

"You did alright." Ron said. Hermione glared at him and smacked him.

**"You handled it fine by yourself," Ron mumbled.**

**Hermione stared down at her blank piece of parchment for a few seconds, then said edgily, "Oh, it's no good, I can't concentrate now. I'm going to bed."**

**She wrenched her bag open; Cris thought she was about to put her books away, but instead she pulled out two misshapen woolly objects, placed them carefully on a table by the fireplace, covered them with a few screwed-up bits of parchment and a broken quill and stood back to admire the effect. **

"Um, what is that?" Sirius asked.

"I have no idea." Robin said.

"Are you trying to free them?" Charlie asked.

"You shouldn't do that, tricking them like that will cause them to be mad at you." Bill said.

**"What in the name of Merlin are you doing?" said Ron, watching her as though fearful for her sanity.**

**"They're hats for house-elves," she said briskly, now stuffing her books back into her bag. "I did them over the summer. I'm a really slow knitter without magic but now I'm back at school I should be able to make lots more."**

"Even if you want to free them you can't, only their master can." Padfoot said.

"What about Dobby?" Hermione asked.

"I tricked Malfoy into freeing him that is completely different." Cris said.

**"You're leaving out hats for the house-elves?" said Ron slowly. "And you're covering them up with rubbish first?"**

**"Yes," said Hermione defiantly, swinging her bag on to her back.**

**"That's not on," said Ron angrily. "You're trying to trick them into picking up the hats. You're setting them free when they might not want to be free."**

**"Of course they want to be free!" said Hermione at once, though her face was turning pink.**

"Um, no they don't." said the wizards.

"Our magic helps them use their magic." Draco said.

"I know that know." Hermione said.

**"Don't you dare touch those hats, Ron!"**

**Hermione was now glaring at Ron, if he had touched the hats she didn't know what she would do.**

**She turned on her heel and left. Ron waited until she had disappeared through the door to the girls' dormitories, then cleared the rubbish off the woolly hats.**

**"They should at least see what they're picking up," he said firmly. **

**"Anyway…" he rolled up the parchment on which he had written the title of Snape's essay, "there's no point trying to finish this now, I can't do it without Hermione, I haven't got a clue what you're supposed to do with moonstones, have you?"**

"It is an ingredient in several love potions." Cris said.

"Correct," Snape said blinkingly at Cris.

**Cris shook her head, noticing as she did so that the ache in her right temple was getting worse. She thought of the long essay on giant wars and the pain stabbed at her sharply. Knowing perfectly well that when the morning came, she would regret not finishing her homework that night, she piled her books back into her bag.**

**"I'm going to bed too."**

"Yeah, you probably should working with a headache is not fun." Prongs said.

"But she has to get her homework done." Lily said.

"I worked on it in increments when I could." Cris said.

**She passed Seamus on the way to the door leading to the dormitories, but did not look at him. Cris had a fleeting impression that Seamus had opened his mouth to speak, but she sped up and reached the soothing peace of the stone spiral staircase without having to endure any more provocation.**

**The following day dawned just as leaden and rainy as the previous one. Hagrid was still absent from the staff table at breakfast.**

**"But on the plus side, no Snape today" said Ron bracingly.**

"Very true," Moony said.

**Hermione yawned widely and poured herself some coffee. She looked mildly pleased about something, and when Ron asked her what she had to be so happy about, she simply said, "The hats have gone. Seems the house-elves do want freedom after all."**

"I don't think they actually picked them up." Bill said.

"I think it may have been Dobby." Charlie said.

"Could be." Tonks said.

**"I wouldn't bet on it," Ron told her cuttingly. "They might not count as clothes. They didn't look anything like hats to me, more like woolly bladders."**

Hermione slapped him again and Ron kissed her cheek.

"You still not off the hook." Hermione said.

**Hermione did not speak to him all morning.**

"That's nothing new." Bill said.

"Try living with it." Cris said.

"No thanks, I'm good." Bill said.

**Double Charms was succeeded by double Transfiguration. Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall both spent the first fifteen minutes of their lessons lecturing the class on the importance of OWLs.**

**"What you must remember," said little Professor Flitwick squeakily perched as ever on a pile of books so that he could see over the top of his desk, "is that these examinations may influence your futures for many years to come! If you have not already given serious thought to your careers, now is the time to do so. And in the meantime, I'm afraid; we shall be working harder than ever to ensure that you all do yourselves justice!"**

**They then spent over an hour reviewing Summoning Charms,**

"That'll be a snitch for you." Sirius said.

**which according to Professor Flitwick were bound to come up in their OWL, and he rounded off the lesson by setting them their largest ever amount of Charms homework.**

**It was the same, if not worse, in Transfiguration.**

"But that's easy." Prongs, Padfoot and Cris said.

"For some people." Ron said.

**"You cannot pass an OWL," said Professor McGonagall grimly, "without serious application, practice and study. I see no reason why everybody in this class should not achieve an OWL in Transfiguration as long as they put in the work." Neville made a sad little disbelieving noise.**

"All you need is confidence." Remus said.

"He is working on it." Cris said with a smile to Neville.

**"Yes, you too, Longbottom," said Professor McGonagall. "There's nothing wrong with your work except lack of confidence. So… today we are starting Vanishing Spells. **

"You did do very well at that, Potter." McGonagall said. Cris smiled and Prongs felt very proud of his daughter.

**These are easier than Conjuring Spells, which you would not usually attempt until NEWT level, but they are still among the most difficult magic you will be tested on in your OWL."**

**She was quite right; Cris found the Vanishing Spells difficult but she could still do it. **

"That's my girl." Prongs said with a big smile.

**By the end of a double period Ron hadn't managed to vanish the snail on which they were practicing, though Ron said hopefully he thought his looked a bit paler. Hermione, on the other hand, successfully vanished her snail on the third attempt, earning her a ten-point bonus for Gryffindor from Professor McGonagall. Cris vanished it after the fourth earning five points. They were the only students not given homework; everybody else was told to practice the spell overnight, ready for a fresh attempt on their snails the following afternoon.**

**Now panicking slightly about the amount of homework they had to do,**

"Fifth year is a tough year." Keiran said.

"No kidding," Teddy said.

"I'm sure you two did fine." Robin said.

"We did okay," Keiran and Teddy said.

**Cris and Ron spent their lunch hour in the library looking up the uses of moonstones in potion-making. Still angry about Ron's slur on her woolly hats, Hermione did not join them. By the time they reached Care of Magical Creatures in the afternoon, Cris' head was aching again.**

**The day had become cool and breezy, and as they walked down the sloping lawn towards Hagrid's cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, they felt the occasional drop of rain on their faces. Professor Grubbly-Plank stood waiting for the class some ten yards from Hagrid's front door, a long trestle table in front of her laden with twigs. As Cris and Ron reached her, a loud shout of laughter sounded behind them; turning, they saw Draco Malfoy striding towards them, surrounded by his usual gang of Slytherin cronies. He had clearly just said something highly amusing, because Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy Parkinson and the rest continued to snigger heartily as they gathered around the trestle table and, judging by the way they all kept looking over at Cris, she was able to guess the subject of the joke without too much difficulty.**

**"Everyone here?" barked Professor Grubbly-Plank, once all the Slytherins and Gryffindors had arrived. "Let's crack on then. Who can tell me what these things are called?"**

**She indicated the heap of twigs in front of her. **

"Bowtruckles!" Charlie said.

**Hermione's hand shot into the air. Behind her back, Malfoy did a buck-toothed imitation of her jumping up and down in eagerness to answer a question.**

"Sorry," Draco said.

"It's okay, you didn't want to do it and we know that." Luna said.

**Pansy Parkinson gave a shriek of laughter that turned almost at once into a scream, as the twigs on the table leapt into the air and revealed themselves to be what looked like tiny pixyish creatures made of wood, each with knobbly brown arms and legs, two twig like fingers at the end of each hand and a funny flat, bark like face in which a pair of beetle-brown eyes glittered.**

"They sound rather ugly." Gwen said.

"Don't insult them!" Charlie said.

"Sorry," Gwen said.

**"Oooooh!" said Parvati and Lavender, thoroughly irritating Cris. Anyone would have thought Hagrid had never shown them impressive creatures; admittedly, the Flobberworms had been a bit dull, but the Salamanders and Hippogriffs had been interesting enough, and the Blast-Ended Skrewts perhaps too much so.**

"Well he does have his own way teaching that's for sure." Bill said.

"It makes Care of Magical Creatures very interesting." Cris said.

"That's for sure." Draco said.

**"Kindly keep your voices down, girls!" said Professor Grubbly-Plank sharply, scattering a handful of what looked like brown rice among the stick-creatures, who immediately fell upon the food. "So - anyone know the names of these creatures? Miss Granger?"**

**"Bowtruckles," said Hermione. "They're tree-guardians, usually live in wand-trees."**

**"Five points for Gryffindor," said Professor Grubbly-Plank. "Yes, these are Bowtruckles, and as Miss Granger rightly says, they generally live in trees whose wood is of wand quality. Anybody know what they eat?"**

**"Woodlice," said Hermione promptly which explained why what Cris had taken to be grains of brown rice were moving. "But fairy eggs if they can get them."**

"Are a lot of mythological creatures real?" Gwen asked.

"Most I think, otherwise you wouldn't have heard of them." Mr. Weasley said.

**"Good girl, take another five points. So, whenever you need leaves or wood from a tree in which a Bowtruckle lodges, it is wise to have a gift of woodlice ready to distract or placate it. They may not look dangerous, but if angered they will try to gouge at human eyes with their fingers, which, as you can see, are very sharp and not at all desirable near the eyeballs. So if you'd like to gather closer, take a few woodlice and a Bowtruckle - I have enough here for one between three - you can study them more closely. I want a sketch from each of you with all body-parts labeled by the end of the lesson."**

**The class surged forwards around the trestle table. Cris deliberately circled around the back so that she ended up right next to Professor Grubbly-Plank.**

**"Where's Hagrid?" she asked her, while everyone else was choosing Bowtruckles.**

**"Never you mind," said Professor Grubbly-Plank repressively, which had been her attitude last time Hagrid had failed to turn up for a class, too. Smirking all over his pointed face, Draco Malfoy leaned across Cris and seized the largest Bowtruckle.**

**"Maybe," said Malfoy in an undertone, so that only Cris could hear him, "the stupid great oaf's got himself badly injured."**

Dumbledore furrowed his eyebrows at that but didn't say anything.

**"Maybe you will if you don't shut up," said Cris out of the side of her mouth.**

**"Maybe he's been messing with stuff that's too big for him, if you get my drift."**

"Okay, how do you know that?" Bill asked.

"I heard my father talking about it with a couple of other Death Eaters." Draco said.

"So they know we are doing something." Sirius said.

"Yeah," Draco said.

**Malfoy walked away, smirking over his shoulder at Cris, who felt suddenly sick. Did Malfoy know something? His father was a Death Eater after all; what if he had information about Hagrid's fate that had not yet reached the ears of the Order? She hurried back around the table to Ron and Hermione who were squatting on the grass some distance away and attempting to persuade a Bowtruckle to remain still long enough for them to draw it. Cris pulled out parchment and quill, crouched down beside the others and related in a whisper what Malfoy had just said.**

**"Dumbledore would know if something had happened to Hagrid," said Hermione at once. "It's just playing into Malfoy's hands to look worried; it tells him we don't know exactly what's going on. We've got to ignore him, Cris. Here, hold the Bowtruckle for a moment, just so I can draw its face…"**

**"Yes," came Malfoy's clear drawl from the group nearest them, "Father was talking to the Minister just a couple of days ago, you know, and it sounds as though the Ministry's really determined to crack down on sub-standard teaching in this place. So even if that overgrown moron does show up again, he'll probably be sent packing straightaway."**

**"OUCH!"**

**Cris had gripped the Bowtruckle so hard that it had almost snapped, and it had just taken a great retaliatory swipe at her hand with its sharp fingers, leaving two long deep cuts there.**

"That really hurt too." Cris said. She looked down at where the cut was, Madame Pomfrey had been able to heal it without a scar.

**Cris dropped it. Crabbe and Goyle, who had already been guffawing at the idea of Hagrid being sacked, laughed still harder as the Bowtruckle set off at full tilt towards the Forest, a little moving stick-man soon swallowed up among the tree roots. When the bell echoed distantly over the grounds Cris rolled up her blood-stained Bowtruckle picture and marched off to Herbology with her hand wrapped in Hermione's handkerchief, and Malfoy's derisive laughter still ringing in her ears. **

**"If he calls Hagrid a moron one more time…" said Cris through gritted teeth.**

**"Cris, don't go picking a row with Malfoy, don't forget, he's a prefect now, he could make life difficult for you…"**

"Sorry," Draco said.

**"Wow, I wonder what it'd be like to have a difficult life?" said Cris sarcastically. Ron laughed, but Hermione frowned. Together, they traipsed across the vegetable patch. The sky still appeared unable to make up its mind whether it wanted to rain or not.**

**"I just wish Hagrid would hurry up and get back, that's all," said Cris in a low voice, as they reached the greenhouses. "And don't say that Grubbly-Plank woman's a better teacher!" she added threateningly.**

**"I wasn't going to," said Hermione calmly.**

**"Because she'll never be as good as Hagrid," said Cris firmly, fully aware that he had just experienced an exemplary Care of Magical Creatures lesson and was thoroughly annoyed about it.**

"Cris," groaned the room.

**The door of the nearest greenhouse opened and some fourth-years spilled out of it, including Ginny.**

**"Hi," she said brightly as she passed. A few seconds later, Luna Lovegood emerged, trailing behind the rest of the class, a smudge of earth on her nose, and her hair tied in a knot on the top of her head. When she saw Cris, her prominent eyes seemed to bulge excitedly and she made a beeline straight for her. **

**Many of her classmates turned curiously to watch. Luna took a great breath and then said, without so much as a preliminary hello, "I believe He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back and I believe you fought him and escaped from him."**

"I bet that made your day." Prongs said.

"Yeah, it kind of did." Cris said with a smile.

**"Er - right," said Cris awkwardly. Luna was wearing what looked like a pair of orange radishes for earrings, a fact that Parvati and Lavender seemed to have noticed, as they were both giggling and pointing at her earlobes.**

**"You can laugh," Luna said, her voice rising, apparently under the impression that Parvati and Lavender were laughing at what she had said rather than what she was wearing, "but people used to believe there were no such things as the Blibbering Humdinger or the Crumple-Horned Snorkack!"**

Charlie scrunched his eyebrows together. "What are those, I've never heard of them."

"I don't think they exist," Bill whispered to his brother.

"That would explain it," Charlie whispered back.

**"Well, they were right, weren't they?' said Hermione impatiently. "There weren't any such things as the Blibbering Humdinger or the Crumple-Horned Snorkack."**

**Luna gave her a withering look and flounced away, radishes swinging madly Parvati and Lavender were not the only ones hooting with laughter now.**

**"D'you mind not offending the only people who believe me?" Cris asked Hermione as they made their way into class.**

**"Oh, for heaven's sake, Cris, you can do better than her," said Hermione. **

**"Ginny's told me all about her; apparently, she'll only believe in things as long as there's no proof at all. Well, I wouldn't expect anything else from someone whose father runs The Quibbler."**

**Cris thought of the sinister winged horses she had seen on the night she had arrived and how Luna had said she could see them too. Her spirits sank slightly. Had she been lying? But before she could devote much more thought to the matter, Ernie Macmillan had stepped up to her.**

**"I want you to know, Potter," he said in a loud, carrying voice, "that it's not only weirdos who support you. I personally believe you one hundred percent. My family have always stood firm behind Dumbledore, and so do I."**

"Thank god, I don't have to throttle him in this book." Sirius said.

**"Er - thanks very much, Ernie," said Cris, taken aback but pleased. Ernie might be pompous on occasions like this, but Cris was in a mood to deeply appreciate a vote of confidence from somebody who did not have radishes dangling from their ears.**

**Ernie's words had certainly wiped the smile from Lavender Brown's face and as he turned to talk to Ron and Hermione, Cris caught Seamus's expression, which looked both confused and defiant.**

**To nobody's surprise, Professor Sprout started their lesson by lecturing them about the importance of OWLs. Cris wished all the teachers would stop doing this; she was starting to get an anxious, twisted feeling in her stomach every time she remembered how much homework she had to do, a feeling that worsened dramatically when Professor Sprout gave them yet another essay at the end of class. Tired and smelling strongly of dragon dung, Professor Sprout's preferred type of fertilizer, the Gryffindors trooped back up to the castle an hour and a half later, none of them talking very much; it had been another long day.**

**As Cris was starving, and she had her first detention with Umbridge at five o'clock, she headed straight for dinner without dropping off her bag in Gryffindor Tower so that she could bolt something down before facing whatever she had in store for her. She had barely reached the entrance of the Great Hall, however, when a loud and angry voice yelled, "Oy, Potter!"**

**"What now?" she muttered wearily, turning to face Angelina Johnson, who looked as though she was in a towering temper.**

"Oh yeah, she is the captain and your detention is the same time as the Quidditch practice." Bill said.

**"I'll tell you what now," she said, marching straight up to her and poking her hard in the chest with her finger. "How come you've landed yourself in detention for five o'clock on Friday?"**

**"What?" said Cris. "Why… oh yeah, Keeper tryouts!"**

"You completely forgot about it?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, it was a busy couple of days." Cris said sheepishly.

**"Now she remembers!" snarled Angelina. "Didn't I tell you I wanted to do a tryout with the whole team, and find someone who fitted in with everyone! Didn't I tell you I'd booked the Quidditch pitch specially? And now you've decided you're not going to be there!"**

**"I didn't decide not to be there!" said Cris, stung by the injustice of these words. "I got detention from that Umbridge woman, just because I told her the truth about You-Know-Who."**

"Why didn't you say his name?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know," Cris said shrugging.

**"Well, you can just go straight to her and ask her to let you off on Friday," said Angelina fiercely, "and I don't care how you do it. Tell her You-Know-Who's a figment of your imagination if you like, just make sure you're there!"**

"Somehow I don't think that'll work." Bill said.

**She turned on her heel and stormed away.**

**"You know what?" Cris said to Ron and Hermione as they entered the Great Hall. "I think we'd better check with Puddlemere United whether Oliver Wood's been killed during a training session, because Angelina seems to be channeling his spirit."**

"Don't say that!" Al said.

"You just want your girlfriend to born." James teased.

"Great, one of our children is dating a Wood." Cris sighed.

"Who knows maybe she isn't that bad." Fred said.

**"What d'you reckon are the odds of Umbridge letting you off on Friday?" said Ron skeptically, as they sat down at the Gryffindor table.**

"None," Remus said.

"Zilch" Robin said.

"Nada," Sirius said.

**"Less than zero," said Cris glumly, tipping lamb chops on to her plate and starting to eat. "Better try, though, hadn't I? I'll offer to do two more detentions or something, I dunno…" She swallowed a mouthful of potato and added, "I hope she doesn't keep me too long this evening.**

"Let's hope, you still have a lot of homework to do." Lily said. Cris sighed, the stupid toad kept as long if not longer than Lockhart did.

**You realize we've got to write three essays, practice Vanishing Spells for McGonagall for you at least Ron, work out a counter-charm for Flitwick, finish the Bowtruckle drawing and start that stupid dream diary for Trelawney?"**

"That is a lot of homework; you better let her go early so she can work on it." Mrs. Weasley said.

**Ron moaned and for some reason glanced up at the ceiling.**

**"And it looks like it's going to rain."**

"That doesn't have anything to do with homework." Ginny said.

"I know I was just pointing it out." Ron said.

**"What's that got to do with our homework?" said Hermione, her eyebrows raised.**

**"Nothing," said Ron at once, his ears reddening.**

**At five to five Cris bade the other two goodbye and set off for Umbridge's office on the third floor. When she knocked on the door she called, "Come in," in a sugary voice. She entered cautiously, looking around.**

**She had known this office under three of its previous occupants.**

**In the days when Gilderoy Lockhart had lived here it had been plastered in beaming portraits of himself. When Remus had occupied it, it was likely you would meet some fascinating Dark creature in a cage or tank if you came to call.**

"That sounds like you bro." Kit said. Remus rolled his eyes and shook his head.

**In the impostor Moody's days it had been packed with various instruments and artifacts for the detection of wrong doing and concealment.**

**Now, however, it looked totally unrecognizable. The surfaces had all been draped in lacy covers and cloths. There were several vases full of dried flowers, each one residing on its own doily, and on one of the walls was a collection of ornamental plates, each decorated with a large Technicolor kitten wearing a different bow around its neck.**

Robin gagged at the thought of the utterly disgusting décor of the room.

**These were so foul that Cris stared at them, transfixed, until Professor Umbridge spoke again.**

**"Good evening, Miss Potter."**

**Cris started and looked around. She had not noticed her at first because she was wearing a luridly flowered set of robes that blended only too well with the tablecloth on the desk behind her.**

**"Evening, Professor Umbridge," Cris said stiffly.**

**"Well, sit down," she said, pointing towards a small table draped in lace beside which she had drawn up a straight-backed chair. A piece of blank parchment lay on the table, apparently waiting for her.**

**"Er," said Cris, without moving. "Professor Umbridge. Er - before we start, I - I wanted to ask you a… a favor."**

**Her bulging eyes narrowed.**

**"Oh, yes?"**

**"Well, I'm… I'm in the Gryffindor Quidditch team. And I was supposed to be at the tryouts for the new Keeper at five o'clock on Friday and I was - was wondering whether I could skip detention that night and do it - do it another night… instead…" **

"She won't she will be all too happy for you to miss it." Remus said.

**She knew long before she reached the end of her sentence that it was no good.**

"**Oh, no," said Umbridge, smiling so widely that she looked as though she had just swallowed a particularly juicy fly. "Oh, no, no, no. This is your punishment for spreading evil, nasty, attention-seeking stories, **

"Dolores, now we know she hasn't been." Fudge said. Umbridge nodded but was looking at the book in apprehension.

**Miss Potter, and punishments certainly cannot be adjusted to suit the guilty one's convenience. No, you will come here at five o'clock tomorrow, and the next day, and on Friday too, and you will do your detentions as planned. I think it rather a good thing that you are missing something you really want to do. It ought to reinforce the lesson I am trying to teach you."**

"You can't teach at all." Remus muttered.

**Cris felt the blood surge to her head and heard a thumping noise in her ears. So she told 'evil, nasty, attention-seeking stories', did she?**

**She was watching her with her head slightly to one side, still smiling widely, as though she knew exactly what she was thinking and was waiting to see whether she would start shouting again. With a massive effort, Cris looked away from her, dropped her schoolbag beside the straight-backed chair and sat down. **

**"There," said Umbridge sweetly, "we're getting better at controlling our temper already, aren't we? Now, you are going to be doing some lines for me, Miss Potter. No, not with your quill," she added, as Cris bent down to open her bag. "You're going to be using a rather special one of mine. Here you are."**

**She handed her a long, thin black quill with an unusually sharp point. **

Sirius' eyes widened and turned to Cris.

"Cristal Rose, come here." Sirius said. Cris sensing what this was about got up and went over to her godfather. "Let me see your hand." Cris held out her hand for him to inspect and the words that were etched into her skin shone back at him. He turned to the toad with rage filing is eyes.

"Don't you know that using Blood Quills are illegal?" Sirius asked. Umbridge blanched but didn't say anything.

"What is he talking about Dolores?" Amelia and Fudge asked.

"Tonks just read, I'm sure it'll explain to them." Cris said. Tonks nodded and continued to read.

**"I want you to write, I must not tell lies," she told her softly.**

"But she isn't telling any lies." Ginny shouted.

**"How many times?" Cris asked, with a creditable imitation of politeness.**

**"Oh, as long as it takes for the message to sink in," said Umbridge sweetly. **

Cris brought up her free hand to rub the scars on the back of her hand.

**"Off you go."**

**She moved over to her desk, sat down and bent over a stack of parchment that looked like essays for marking. Cris raised the sharp black quill, then realized what was missing.**

**"You haven't given me any ink," she said.**

**"Oh, you won't need ink," said Professor Umbridge, with the merest suggestion of a laugh in her voice.**

"Then how will she write?" Gwen asked.

"Blood Quill's don't need ink; they literally use your own blood." Sirius said.

"That's sick." Gwen said.

"But we don't know if it is that yet." Amelia said.

**Cris placed the point of the quill on the paper and wrote: I must not tell lies.**

**She let out a gasp of pain. The words had appeared on the parchment in what appeared to be shining red ink. At the same time, the words had appeared on the back of Cris' right hand, cut into her skin as though traced there by a scalpel - yet even as she stared at the shining cut, the skin healed over again, leaving the place where it had been slightly redder than before but quite smooth.**

"Dolores Umbridge that is illegal on minors!" Amelia shouted. Cris had to hold back Sirius and Robin to hold back Remus so they wouldn't attack the toad.

"I am sorry to half to do this but you are fired, Miss Lupin will be taking your place as DADA teacher once we are out of here." Dumbledore said. "That is if you have no objections Minister."

"Not at all, you are fired from you duties at the ministry as well." Fudge said. These last two statements caused cheers from the current students.

"Though to warn you that is not how it is in the books." Keiran said.

"Drat," said the students.

"Though I do have one question." Sirius said, Cris turned to her godfather again. "Why didn't you tell us what she was doing?"

"I wanted to deal with it myself, I didn't want her to think that she won if I went to a teacher." Cris said.

"You are so stubborn." Sirius said. "Next time something like this happens tell someone." Cris nodded and Mrs. Weasley looked at her school aged children.

"Which of you have had to deal with her?" Mrs. Weasley asked. The twins raised their hands as did Ginny and Ron. This caused Mrs. Weasley to seethe, she turned her gaze to the toad and Mr. Weasley and Bill had to hold her back though they wanted to go after her as well.

"Tonks, please continue." Dumbledore said.

**Cris looked round at Umbridge. She was watching him, her wide, toad like mouth stretched in a smile. **

"You are completely sadistic." Charlie snarled. She didn't say anything, just sat there in shock, what will they do when they find out that she sent the Dementor's after the Potter girl.

**"Yes?"**

**"Nothing," said Cris quietly.**

**She looked back at the parchment, placed the quill on it once more, wrote I must not tell lies, and felt the searing pain on the back of her hand for a second time; once again, the words had been cut into her skin; once again, they healed over seconds later.**

"That is torture!" Remus shouted, he was very protective of his cub. Teddy smiled; he knew his dad was very protective.

**And on it went. Again and again Cris wrote the words on the parchment in what she soon came to realize was not ink, but her own blood. And, again and again, the words were cut into the back of her hand, healed, and reappeared the next time she set quill to parchment.**

**Darkness fell outside Umbridge's window. Cris did not ask when she would be allowed to stop.**

"You are too noble for your own good." Sirius said shaking his head.

**She did not even check her watch. She knew she was watching her for signs of weakness and she was not going to show any, not even if she had to sit there all night, cutting open her own hand with this quill…**

**"Come here," she said, after what seemed hours.**

"It was," Ron and Hermione said.

**She stood up. Her hand was stinging painfully. When she looked down at it she saw that the cut had healed, but that the skin there was red raw.**

**"Hand," she said.**

**She extended it. She took it in her own. Cris repressed a shudder as she touched her with her thick, stubby fingers on which she wore a number of ugly old rings.**

**"Tut, tut, I don't seem to have made much of an impression yet," she said, smiling. "Well, we'll just have to try again tomorrow evening, won't we?**

"Enough of an impression, you've already scarred her for life!" Sirius shouted.

"Calm down Sirius, she'll get her dues, just you see." Robin said.

**You may go."**

"Evil woman," Remus said.

**Cris left her office without a word. The school was quite deserted; it was surely past midnight.**

"We should put a limit so that they could get their homework done after detention." McGonagall said.

"I agree, no later than 9 o'clock, I think." Dumbledore said.

"Seems reasonable." McGonagall said.

**She walked slowly up the corridor, then, when she had turned the corner and was sure she would not hear her, broke into a run.**

**She had no time to write a single dream in her dream diary and had not finished the drawing of the Bowtruckle, nor had she written her essays. She skipped breakfast next morning to scribble down a couple of made-up dreams for Divination, their first lesson, and was surprised to find a disheveled Ron keeping her company.**

**"How come you didn't do it last night?" Cris asked, as Ron stared wildly around the common room for inspiration. Ron, who had been fast asleep when Cris got back to the dormitory, muttered something about "doing other stuff", bent low over his parchment and scrawled a few words.**

**"That'll have to do," he said, slamming the diary shut. "I've said I dreamed I was buying a new pair of shoes, she can't make anything weird out of that, can she?"**

"I bet she can," Bill said.

"It does make you wonder about the students who don't remember their dreams." Robin said.

"I don't know, probably what Ron did." Remus said.

**They hurried off to North Tower together.**

**"How was detention with Umbridge, anyway? What did she make you do?"**

**Cris hesitated for a fraction of a second, then said, "Lines."**

"You should have told him right away." Mrs. Weasley said.

"She's stubborn, you should know that." Ron said.

"Besides we find out later, she can't hide everything from us." Hermione said.

**"That's not too bad, then, eh?" said Ron.**

**"Nope," said Cris.**

"So stubborn," Remus said.

"I don't like sympathy." Cris said.

"We know," the group said.

**"Hey - I forgot - did she let you off for Friday?"**

**"No," said Cris.**

**Ron groaned sympathetically.**

**It was another bad day for Cris; she was having an off day in Transfiguration. She had to give up her lunch hour to complete the picture of the Bowtruckle and, meanwhile, Professors McGonagall, Grubbly-Plank and Sinistra gave them yet more homework, which she had no prospect of finishing that evening because of her second detention with Umbridge. To cap it all, Angelina Johnson tracked her down at dinner again and, on learning that she would not be able to attend Friday's Keeper tryouts, told her she was not at all impressed by her attitude and that she expected players who wished to remain on the team to put training before their other commitments.**

"She didn't kick you off did she?" Charlie asked.

"No, Umbridge did. Does that mean we're back on the team since she is gone?" Cris asked. McGonagall smiled over at the three kicked off players.

"I believe so yes, after all you were only defending your mother's honor, that doesn't warrant for a suspension from the team." McGonagall said. Cris and the twins cheered as did the rest of the room. Cris turned to Ginny and gave her a small smile.

"Sorry Gin," Cris said.

"That's alright; I can still be back up." Ginny said.

"True," Cris said.

**"I'm in detention!" Cris yelled after her as she stalked away. "D'you think I'd rather be stuck in a room with that old toad or playing Quidditch?"**

**"At least it's only lines," said Hermione consolingly, as Cris sank back on to her bench and looked down at her steak and kidney pie, which she no longer fancied very much. "It's not as if it's a dreadful punishment, really…"**

"But now that I do know the truth it is repulsive." Hermione said.

**Cris opened her mouth, closed it again and nodded. She was not really sure why she was not telling Ron and Hermione exactly what was happening in Umbridge's room: she only knew that she did not want to see their looks of horror; that would make the whole thing seem worse and therefore more difficult to face. She also felt dimly that this was between herself and Umbridge, a private battle of wills, and she was not going to give her the satisfaction of hearing that she had complained about it.**

"So it's your bloody fault she didn't tell anyone." Sirius snapped.

"It's not my fault that she is stubborn." Umbridge said.

**"I can't believe how much homework we've got," said Ron miserably.**

**"Well, why didn't you do any last night?" Hermione asked him. "Where were you, anyway?"**

**"I was… I fancied a walk," said Ron shiftily.**

"No you didn't, what are you doing?" Charlie asked.

"Nothing," Ron said blushing.

"Yeah, right." Bill said.

**Cris had the distinct impression that she was not alone in concealing things at the moment.**

"What are you up too?" Bill asked.

"You'll see." Ron said.

"It better not be something dangerous." Mrs. Weasley said.

**The second detention was just as bad as the previous one. The skin on the back of Cris' hand became irritated more quickly now and was soon red and inflamed. Cris thought it unlikely that it would keep healing as effectively for long. Soon the cut would remain etched into her hand and Umbridge would, perhaps, be satisfied. She let no gasp of pain escape her, however, and from the moment of entering the room to the moment of her dismissal, again past midnight, she said nothing but "good evening" and "goodnight."**

"I hope it's the only detention you have with her." Remus said.

"Somehow, I doubt it." Sirius said.

**Her homework situation, however, was now desperate, and when she returned to the Gryffindor common room she did not, though exhausted, go to bed, but opened her books and began Snape's moonstone essay. It was half past two by the time she had finished it. She knew she had done a poor job, but there was no help for it; unless she had something to give in she would be in detention with Snape next.**

"And you don't need that at all." Bill said.

"At least I got it done." Cris said.

"That's true." Remus said.

**She then dashed off answers to the questions Professor McGonagall had set them, cobbled together something on the proper handling of Bowtruckles for Professor Grubbly- Plank, and staggered up to bed, where she fell fully clothed on top of the covers and fell asleep immediately.**

**Thursday passed in a haze of tiredness. Ron seemed very sleepy too, though Cris could not see why he should be. Cris' third detention passed in the same way as the previous two, except that after two hours the words I must not tell lies did not fade from the back of Cris' hand, but remained scratched there, oozing droplets of blood. **

Growls were heard around the room again when they read that.

**The pause in the pointed quill's scratching made Professor Umbridge look up.**

**"Ah," she said softly, moving around her desk to examine Cris' hand herself. "Good. That ought to serve as a reminder to you, oughtn't it? You may leave for tonight."**

**"Do I still have to come back tomorrow?" said Cris picking up her schoolbag with her left hand rather than her smarting right one.**

**"Oh yes," said Professor Umbridge, smiling as widely as before. "Yes, I think we can etch the message a little deeper with another evening's work." **

Tonks clenched the book tighter and Teddy was happy he made the book impervious to being ripped.

**Cris had never before considered the possibility that there might be another teacher in the world she hated more than Snape, but as she walked back towards Gryffindor Tower she had to admit he had found a strong contender. She's evil, she thought, as she climbed a staircase to the seventh floor, she's an evil, twisted, mad old-**

Tonks looked over at Cris. "Why did you stop the thought?"

"Something interrupted my thoughts." Cris said.

**"Ron?"**

**She had reached the top of the stairs, turned right and almost walked into Ron, who was lurking behind a statue of Lachlan the Lanky, clutching his broomstick. He gave a great leap of surprise when he saw Cris and attempted to hide his new Cleansweep Eleven behind his back.**

"Are you trying out for the team?" Bill asked.

"Maybe," Ron said.

**"What are you doing?"**

**"Er - nothing. What are you doing?"**

**Cris frowned at him.**

**"Come on, you can tell me! What are you hiding here for?"**

**"I'm - I'm hiding from Fred and George, if you must know," said Ron. "They just went past with a bunch of first-years; I bet they're testing stuff on them again. I mean, they can't do it in the common room now, can they, not with Hermione there." **

"Always find a way around the rules, I love it." Padfoot said.

"As a prankster you need to find ways to bend the rules." Charlie said.

**He was talking in a very fast, feverish way.**

**"But what have you got your broom for; you haven't been flying, have you?" Cris asked.**

**"I - well - well, okay, I'll tell you, but don't laugh, all right?" Ron said defensively, turning redder with every second. "I - I thought I'd try out for Gryffindor Keeper now I've got a decent broom. There. Go on. Laugh."**

"I would never laugh at you." Cris said. Ron gave her a look. "Alright I may laugh at you sometimes but never about trying out for something like Quidditch."

"Thanks mate," Ron said.

**"I'm not laughing," said Cris. Ron blinked. "It's a brilliant idea! It'd be really cool if you got on the team! I've never seen you play Keeper, are you good?"**

**"I'm not bad," said Ron, who looked immensely relieved at Cris' reaction. "Charlie, Fred and George always made me Keep for them when they were training during the holidays."**

"Well you are better than the rest of us." Charlie said.

**"So you've been practicing tonight?"**

**"Every evening since Tuesday… just on my own, though. I've been trying to bewitch Quaffles to fly at me, but it hasn't been easy and I don't know how much use it'll be." Ron looked nervous and anxious. "Fred and George are going to laugh themselves stupid when I turn up for the tryouts. They haven't stopped taking the mickey out of me since I got made a prefect."**

"We're your brother's, it's our job to tease you." George said.

"I know I tease all of you all the time." Bill said.

**"I wish I was going to be there," said Cris bitterly, as they set off together towards the common room.**

**"Yeah, so do - Cris, what's that on the back of your hand?"**

**Cris, who had just scratched her nose with her free right hand, tried to hide it, but had as much success as Ron with his Cleansweep.**

**"It's just a cut - it's nothing - it's -"**

**But Ron had grabbed Cris' forearm and pulled the back of Cris' hand up level with his eyes. There was a pause, during which he stared at the words carved into the skin, then, looking sick, he released Cris.**

**"I thought you said she was just giving you lines?"**

"She is just in a different sense, I guess." Gwen said.

"A horrible twisted sense." Robin said.

**Cris hesitated, but after all, Ron had been honest with her, so she told Ron the truth about the hours she had been spending in Umbridge's office.**

**"The old hag!" Ron said in a revolted whisper as they came to a halt in front of the Fat Lady, who was dozing peacefully with her head against her frame. "She's sick! Go to McGonagall, say something!"**

**"No," said Cris at once. "I'm not giving her the satisfaction of knowing she's got to me."**

"Just put aside your pride and tell her." Lily said.

"Mum, this has already happened." Cris said.

**"Got to you? You can't let her get away with this!"**

**"I don't know how much power McGonagall's got over her," said Cris.**

**"Dumbledore, then, tell Dumbledore!"**

**"No," said Cris flatly.**

"I wish you had, I would have gotten rid of her right away." Dumbledore said.

**"Why not?"**

**"He's got enough on his mind," said Cris, but that was not the true reason. She was not going to go to Dumbledore for help when Dumbledore had not spoken to her once since June.**

"Why are you ignoring her?" Lily asked.

"I'm sure it'll be explained." Dumbledore said.

**"Well, I reckon you should -" Ron began, but he was interrupted by the Fat Lady, who had been watching them sleepily and now burst out, "Are you going to give me the password or will I have to stay awake all night waiting for you to finish your conversation?"**

"I think that may have been our fault." Kit said.

"You think we traumatized her?" Padfoot asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised." Lily said.

**Friday dawned sullen and sodden as the rest of the week. Though Cris automatically glanced towards the staff table when she entered the Great Hall, it was without any real hope of seeing Hagrid, and she turned her mind immediately to her more pressing problems, such as the mountainous pile of homework she had to do and the prospect of yet another detention with Umbridge.**

**Two things sustained Cris that day. One was the thought that it was almost the weekend; the other was that, dreadful though her final detention with Umbridge was sure to be, she had a distant view of the Quidditch pitch from her window and might, with luck, be able to see something of Ron's tryout. These were rather feeble rays of light, it was true, but Cris was grateful for anything that might lighten her present darkness; she had never had a worse first week of term at Hogwarts. **

"Yeah, that was pretty bad." Hermione said.

**At five o'clock that evening she knocked on Professor Umbridge's office door for what she sincerely hoped would be the final time, and was told to enter. The blank parchment lay ready for her on the lace-covered table, the pointed black quill beside it.**

**"You know what to do, Miss Potter," said Umbridge, smiling sweetly at her.**

The group shivered at the thought of it.

**Cris picked up the quill and glanced through the window. If she just shifted her chair an inch or so to the right… on the pretext of shifting herself closer to the table, she managed it. She now had a distant view of the Gryffindor Quidditch team soaring up and down the pitch, while half a dozen black figures stood at the foot of the three high goalposts, apparently awaiting their turn to Keep. It was impossible to tell which one was Ron at this distance.**

"But I thought you could spot us from any distance?" Fred asked.

"It was hard to tell." Cris said.

"Well that sucks." George said.

**I must not tell lies, Cris wrote. The cut in the back of her right hand opened and began to bleed afresh.**

**I must not tell lies. The cut dug deeper, stinging and smarting.**

**I must not tell lies. Blood trickled down her wrist.**

"Okay, how is it that this damn book hasn't ripped yet?" Tonks asked angrily.

"I made it so it wouldn't rip, sorry mum." Teddy said.

**She chanced another glance out of the window. Whoever was defending the goalposts now was doing a very poor job indeed. Katie Bell scored twice in the few seconds Cris dared to watch.**

**Hoping very much that the Keeper wasn't Ron, she dropped her eyes back to the parchment shining with blood.**

**I must not tell lies.**

**I must not tell lies.**

**She looked up whenever she thought she could risk it; when she could hear the scratching of Umbridge's quill or the opening of a desk drawer. The third person to try out was pretty good, the fourth was terrible, the fifth dodged a Bludger exceptionally well but then fumbled an easy save.**

"I don't remember where Ron was in the lineup." Fred said.

"I think I was third or fifth." Ron said.

"Then that's not too bad." Bill said.

**The sky was darkening, and Cris doubted she would be able to see the sixth and seventh people at all.**

**I must not tell lies.**

**I must not tell lies.**

**The parchment was now dotted with drops of blood from the back of her hand, which was searing with pain. When she next looked up, night had fallen and the Quidditch pitch was no longer visible.**

**"Let's see if you've gotten the message yet, shall we?" said Umbridge's soft voice half an hour later. She moved towards her, stretching out her short ringed fingers for her arm. And then, as she took hold of her to examine the words now cut into her skin, pain seared, not across the back of her hand, but across the scar on her forehead.**

"That is sure weird." Tonks said.

"I am not a Death Eater!" Umbridge said.

"Close enough," Cris said.

**At the same time, she had a most peculiar sensation somewhere around her midriff.**

"What were you doing?!" Sirius snarled.

"Not that!" Umbridge screeched.

"You better hope not." Sirius sneered.

**She wrenched her arm out of her grip and leapt to her feet, staring at her. She looked back at her, a smile stretching her wide, slack mouth.**

**"Yes, it hurts, doesn't it?" she said softly.**

**She did not answer. Her heart was thumping very hard and fast. Was she talking about her hand or did she know what she had just felt in her forehead?**

**"Well, I think I've made my point, Miss Potter. You may go."**

"Please don't get any more detentions with her." Prongs said.

"No promises," Cris said.

"Great," Lily groaned.

**She caught up her schoolbag and left the room as quickly as she could.**

**Stay calm, she told herself, as she sprinted up the stairs. Stay calm, it doesn't necessarily mean what you think it means…**

**"Mimbulus mimbletonia!" she gasped at the Fat Lady, who swung forwards once more.**

**A roar of sound greeted her. Ron came running towards her, beaming all over his face and slopping Butterbeer down his front from the goblet he was clutching.**

**"Cris, I did it, I'm in, I'm Keeper!"**

"Congratulations!" cried his brothers and sister.

**"What? Oh - brilliant!" said Cris, trying to smile naturally, while her heart continued to race and her hand throbbed and bled.**

**"Have a Butterbeer." Ron pressed a bottle on her. "I can't believe it - where's Hermione gone?"**

**"She's there," said Fred, who was also swigging Butterbeer, and pointed to an armchair by the fire. Hermione was dozing in it, her drink tipping precariously in her hand.**

**"Well, she said she was pleased when I told her," said Ron, looking slightly put out.**

**"Let her sleep," said George hastily. It was a few moments before Cris noticed that several of the first-years gathered around them bore unmistakable signs of recent nosebleeds. **

"What are we going to do with you two?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Molly dear, it has already happened." Mr. Weasley said.

**"Come here, Ron, and see if Oliver's old robes fit you," called Katie Bell, "we can take off his name and put yours on instead…"**

**As Ron moved away, Angelina came striding up to Cris.**

**"Sorry I was a bit short with you earlier, Potter," she said abruptly. "It's stressful this managing lark, you know, I'm starting to think I was a bit hard on Wood sometimes." She was watching Ron over the rim of her goblet with a slight frown on her face.**

**"Look, I know he's your best mate, but he's not fabulous," she said bluntly. **

"Well, you can work on him some." Bill said.

**"I think with a bit of training he'll be all right, though. He comes from a family of good Quidditch players. I'm banking on him turning out to have a bit more talent than he showed today, to be honest. Vicky Frobisher and Geoffrey Hooper both flew better this evening, but Hooper's a real whiner, he's always moaning about something or other, and Vicky's involved in all sorts of societies. She admitted herself that if training clashed with her Charms Club she'd put Charms first. Anyway, we're having a practice session at two o'clock tomorrow, so just make sure you're there this time. And do me a favor and help Ron as much as you can, okay?"**

**She nodded, and Angelina strolled back to Alicia Spinnet. Cris moved over to sit next to Hermione, who awoke with a jerk as she put down her bag.**

**"Oh, Cris, it's you… good about Ron, isn't it?" she said blearily. "I'm just so-so - so tired," she yawned. "I was up until one o'clock making more hat's. They're disappearing like mad!"**

"Yeah, I definitely think it's Dobby." Gwen said.

**And sure enough, now that she looked, Cris saw that there were woolly hats concealed all around the room where unwary elves might accidentally pick them up.**

**"Great," said Cris distractedly; if she did not tell somebody soon, she would burst. "Listen, Hermione, I was just up in Umbridge's office and she touched my arm."**

**Hermione listened closely. When Cris had finished, she said slowly "You're worried You- Know-Who's controlling her like he controlled Quirrell?"**

**"Well," said Cris, dropping her voice, "it's a possibility, isn't it?"**

"I am not being controlled." Umbridge said.

"You won't know, how can you be sure?" Moody asked.

"True," Tonks said.

"I am not under anyone's control!" she screeched. Kingsley was handed his wand by Dumbledore and he tied her up until the end of the chapter. Tonks then continued reading.

**"I suppose so," said Hermione, though she sounded unconvinced. "But I don't think he can be possessing her the way he possessed Quirrell, I mean, he's properly alive again now, isn't he, he's got his own body, he wouldn't need to share someone else's. He could have her under the Imperius Curse, I suppose…"**

"It is possible," Robin said.

**Cris watched Fred, George and Lee Jordan juggling empty Butterbeer bottles for a moment.**

**Then Hermione said, "But last year your scar hurt when nobody was touching you, and didn't Dumbledore say it had to do with what You-Know-Who was feeling at the time? I mean, maybe this hasn't got anything to do with Umbridge at all, maybe it's just coincidence it happened while you were with her?"**

**"She's evil," said Cris flatly. "Twisted."**

"Understatement," said most of the room.

**"She's horrible, yes, but… Cris, I think you ought to tell Dumbledore your scar hurt."**

**It was the second time in two days she had been advised to go to Dumbledore and her answer to Hermione was just the same as her answer to Ron.**

**"I'm not bothering him with this. Like you just said, its not a big deal. It's been hurting on and off all summer - it was just a bit worse tonight, that's all -"**

"Cris, is it possible you act like this because of how you were raised?" Remus asked.

"What do you mean?" Cris asked.

"Your Aunt and Uncle taught you to not ask questions, did that mean asking for help as well?" Remus asked. Cris looked at him and was thoughtful.

"Um, maybe," Cris said.

"Cris, you need to ask for help when you need it alright." Sirius said. Cris nodded and Tonks continued.

**"Cris, I'm sure Dumbledore would want to be bothered by this -"**

**"Yeah," said Cris, before she could stop herself, "that's the only bit of me Dumbledore cares about, isn't it, my scar?"**

**"Don't say that, it's not true!"**

**"I think I'll write and tell Sirius about it, see what he thinks -"**

**"Cris, you can't put something like that in a letter!" said Hermione, looking alarmed. "Don't you remember, Moody told us to be careful what we put in writing! We just can't guarantee owls aren't being intercepted anymore!"**

"Write in code then," Prongs said.

"Yeah, we're pretty good at writing in code." Padfoot said.

"Plus it's fun too." Moony said.

**"All right, all right, I won't tell him, then!" said Cris irritably. She got to her feet. "I'm going to bed. Tell Ron for me, will you?"**

**"Oh no," said Hermione, looking relieved, "if you're going that means I can go too, without being rude. I'm absolutely exhausted and I want to make some more hats tomorrow. Listen, you can help me if you like, it's quite fun, I'm getting better, I can do patterns and bobbles and all sorts of things now."**

**Cris looked into her face, which was shining with glee, and tried to look as though she was vaguely tempted by this offer.**

"I knew you really didn't want to." Hermione said.

"Thanks," Cris said.

**"Er… no, I don't think I will, thanks," she said.**

"I don't know how and it really isn't something I am interested in." Cris said.

"I understand," Hermione said.

**"Er- not tomorrow. I've got loads of homework to do…"**

**And Cris traipsed off to the boys' stairs, leaving her looking slightly disappointed.**

"That's the chapter," Tonks said. She handed the book over to Teddy.

"Wait, shouldn't we test to see if Umbridge is under anyone's control?" Kingsley asked.

"Right, let's get this over with." Moody said.

**A.N.**

**How should Umbridge be tested? Should she be under the Imperious? Let me know what you think.**


	15. Chapter 14: Percy and Padfoot

"Alastor, why don't we wait until the end of the book, that way we can get this done and over with." Dumbledore said.

"Alright, but I am tying her up." Mad-Eye said. He had Kingsley tie up the toad and the current students couldn't help but laugh at her predicament.

"Alright, Teddy you can start now." Tonks said with a smile.

"**Chapter 14: Percy and Padfoot," **Teddy said.

"What are you doing Padfoot?" Prongs asked.

"I don't know," Padfoot said.

"Settling my unease and seeing if Cris is alright." Sirius said.

"Just be careful." Lily said.

**Cris was first to wake up in her dormitory next morning. She lay for a moment watching dust swirl in the chink of sunlight coming through the gap in her four-posters hangings, and savored the thought that it was Saturday. The first week of term seemed to have dragged on forever, like one gigantic History of Magic lesson. **

"It did seem like that didn't?" Hermione asked.

"I was just glad it was the weekend." Ron said.

"Me too," Cris said.

**Judging by the sleepy silence and the freshly minted look of that beam of sunlight, it was just after daybreak. She pulled open the curtains around her bed, got up and started to dress. The only sound apart from the distant twittering of birds was the slow, deep breathing of her fellow Gryffindors. She opened her schoolbag carefully, pulled out parchment and quill and headed out of the dormitory for the common room.**

**Making straight for her favorite squashy old armchair beside the now extinct fire, Cris settled herself down comfortably and unrolled her parchment while looking around the room. The detritus of crumpled-up bits of parchment, old Gobstones, empty ingredient jars and sweet wrappers that usually covered the common room at the end of each day was gone, as were all Hermione's elf hats. Wondering vaguely how many elves had now been set free whether they wanted to be or not, Cris uncorked her ink bottle, dipped her quill into it, then held it suspended an inch above the smooth yellowish surface of her parchment, thinking hard… but after a minute or so she found herself staring into the empty grate, at a complete loss for what to say.**

**She could now appreciate how hard it had been for Ron and Hermione to write her letters over the summer. How was she supposed to tell Sirius everything that had happened over the past week and pose all the questions she was burning to ask without giving potential letter-thieves a lot of information she did not want them to have?**

**She sat quite motionless for a while, gazing into the fireplace, then, finally coming to a decision, she dipped her quill into the ink bottle once more and set it resolutely on the parchment.**

_**Dear Snuffles,**_

"Well, no one will be able to tell who that is." Prongs said proudly.

"But why did I choose Snuffles?" Padfoot asked.

"That is actually a really cute and funny story." Robin said.

"When Cris turned a year old I got her a stuffed black dog and she was really happy about it. When we asked her what she was going to name it she said Snuffles, I was hurt that she didn't call it Padfoot." Sirius said. Cris blushed profusely at that and hid her face in George's chest.

"Ah, that is really cute." Lily said.

_**Hope you're okay, the first week back here's been terrible, I'm really glad it's the weekend. We've got a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Umbridge. She's nearly as nice as your mum. **_

"Well that part is easy enough to figure out if you knew Sirius' mum." Moony said.

"Yep," Padfoot said.

_**I'm writing because that thing I wrote to you about last summer happened again last night when I was doing a detention with Umbridge.**_

"Okay, that is nice and subtle; no one will get it unless you knew what happened." Bill said.

_**We're all missing our biggest friend; we hope he'll be back soon.**_

"Okay, no one will be able to figure out that it is Hagrid." Charlie said.

"It did take me a while to figure out what you were talking about." Sirius said.

"Good, you did a good job, lass." Mad-Eye said.

_**Please write back quickly.**_

_**Best,**_

_**Cris**_

**Cris reread the letter several times, trying to see it from the point of view of an outsider. She could not see how they would know what she was talking about - or who she was talking to - just from reading this letter. She did hope Sirius would pick up the hint about Hagrid and tell them when he might be back. Cris did not want to ask directly in case it drew too much attention to what Hagrid might be up to while he was not at Hogwarts.**

"Smart," Ginny said.

"I can be smart," Cris said.

"I know, just teasing, big sis." Ginny said. Cris rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at her.

**Considering it was a very short letter, it had taken a long time to write; sunlight had crept halfway across the room while she had been working on it and she could now hear distant sounds of movement from the dormitories above. Sealing the parchment carefully, she climbed through the portrait hole and headed off for the Owlery.**

**"I would not go that way if I were you," said Nearly Headless Nick, drifting disconcertingly through a wall just ahead of Cris as she walked down the passage. "Peeves is planning an amusing joke on the next person to pass the bust of Paracelsus halfway down the corridor."**

"It's probably the bust falling on someone's head." Prongs said.

"His pranks don't change much do they?" Charlie asked.

"Not really," the twins said.

**"Does it involve Paracelsus falling on top of the persons head?" asked Cris with a smile.**

**"Funnily enough, it does," said Nearly Headless Nick in a bored voice. "Subtlety has never been Peeves's strong point. I'm off to try and find the Bloody Baron… he might be able to put a stop to it… see you, Cris"**

**"Yeah, bye," said Cris and instead of turning right, she turned left, taking a longer but safer route up to the Owlery. Her spirits rose as she walked past window after window showing brilliantly blue sky; she had training later, she would be back on the Quidditch pitch at last.**

"Finally," cried the marauders.

**Something brushed her ankles. She looked down and saw the caretaker's skeletal grey cat, Mrs. Norris, slinking past her. She turned lamp like yellow eyes on her for a moment before disappearing behind a statue of Wilfred the Wistful.**

**"I'm not doing anything wrong," Cris called after her. She had the unmistakable air of a cat that was off to report to her boss, yet Cris could not see why; she was perfectly entitled to walk up to the Owlery on a Saturday morning. **

"Yes you are, sending a letter is not illegal now." Lily said.

"I know, that's what I was thinking." Cris said.

**The sun was high in the sky now and when Cris entered the Owlery the glassless windows dazzled her eyes; thick silvery beams of sunlight crisscrossed the circular room in which hundreds of owls nestled on rafters, a little restless in the early-morning light, some clearly just returned from hunting. The straw-covered floor crunched a little as she stepped across tiny animal bones, craning her neck for a sight of Hedwig.**

**"There you are," she said, spotting her somewhere near the very top of the vaulted ceiling. "Get down here, I've got a letter for you."**

**With a low hoot she stretched her great white wings and soared down on to her shoulder.**

**"Right, I know this says Snuffles on the outside," she told her, giving her the letter to clasp in her beak and, without knowing exactly why, whispering, "but it's for Sirius, okay?"**

"She's a smart owl, I'm sure she'll figure it out." Robin said.

"I love my owl." Cris said with a smile.

**She blinked her amber eyes once and she took that to mean that she understood.**

**"Safe flight, then," said Cris and she carried her to one of the windows; with a moment's pressure on her arm, Hedwig took off into the blindingly bright sky. She watched her until she became a tiny black speck and vanished, then switched her gaze to Hagrid's hut, clearly visible from this window, and just as clearly uninhabited, the chimney smokeless, the curtains drawn.**

**The treetops of the Forbidden Forest swayed in a light breeze. Cris watched them, savoring the fresh air on her face, thinking about Quidditch later… then she saw it. A great, reptilian winged horse, just like the ones pulling the Hogwarts carriages, with leathery black wings spread wide like a pterodactyl's, rose up out of the trees like a grotesque, giant bird. **

**It soared in a great circle, then plunged back into the trees. The whole thing had happened so quickly, Cris could hardly believe what she had seen, except that her heart was hammering madly.**

"Well hopefully that it's covered in Care of Magical Creatures soon." Charlie said.

**The Owlery door opened behind her. She leapt in shock and, turning quickly, saw Cho Chang holding a letter and a parcel in her hands.**

**"Hi," said Cris automatically.**

**"Oh… hi," she said breathlessly. "I didn't think anyone would be up here this early… I only remembered five minutes ago, it's my mum's birthday."**

"Oh yeah, you don't want to forget that." Robin said sending a look at Sirius.

"What, I meant to forget it." Sirius said.

"Of course you did." Robin said.

**She held up the parcel.**

"**Right," said Cris. Her mind was stuck on the black winged horse that only she could see. "so it seems like it's going to be a great day." **

**"Yeah," said Cho, looking around for a suitable owl. "Good Quidditch conditions. I haven't been out all week, have you?"**

**"No," said Cris.**

**Cho had selected one of the school barn owls. She coaxed it down on to her arm where it held out an obliging leg so that she could attach the parcel.**

**"Hey, has Gryffindor got a new Keeper yet?" she asked.**

**"Yeah," said Cris. "It's my friend Ron Weasley, d'you know him?"**

**"The Tornados-hater?" said Cho rather coolly. "Is he any good?"**

**"Yeah," said Cris, "I think so. I didn't see his tryout, though, I was in detention."**

**Cho looked up, the parcel only half-attached to the owl's legs.**

**"That Umbridge woman's foul," she said in a low voice. "Putting you in detention just because you told the truth about how - how - how he died. Everyone heard about it, it was all over the school. You were really brave standing up to her like that."**

"That you were, just try not to do it again." Remus said.

"Yeah right, this is Cris we are talking about." Sirius said.

**Cris looked at her, the two of them never were very friendly but it seems the death of someone close to them will bring them closer as friends, maybe.**

"Maybe," Robin said.

"She just wanted me to tell her what happened when I am not really ready to say anything." Cris said.

"That's not cool." Sirius said.

**Cris was about to tell her she didn't want to talk about it when the door of the Owlery opened again.**

**Filch the caretaker came wheezing into the room. There were purple patches on his sunken, veined cheeks, his jowls were aquiver and his thin grey hair disheveled; he had obviously run here. Mrs. Norris came trotting at his heels, gazing up at the owls overhead and mewing hungrily.**

**There was a restless shifting of wings from above and a large brown owl snapped his beak in a menacing fashion.**

**"Aha!' said Filch, taking a flat-footed step towards Cris, his pouchy cheeks trembling with anger. "I've had a tip-off that you are intending to place a massive order for Dungbombs!"**

"No she wasn't, what do you want to bet that the toad told him that." Sirius said glaring at the toad in the room.

"I think she did too." Bill said.

**Cris folded her arms and stared at the caretaker.**

**"Who told you I was ordering Dungbombs?"**

**Cho was looking from Cris to Filch, also frowning; the barn owl on her arm, tired of standing on one leg, gave an admonitory hoot but she ignored it.**

**"I have my sources," said Filch in a self-satisfied hiss. "Now hand over whatever it is you're sending."**

**Feeling immensely thankful that she had not dawdled in posting off the letter, Cris said, "I can't, it's gone."**

**"Gone?" said Filch, his face contorting with rage.**

**"Gone," said Cris calmly.**

**Filch opened his mouth furiously, mouthed for a few seconds, then raked Cris' robes with his eyes.**

"He can't touch you," Prongs said.

"I know," Cris said with a smile.

**"How do I know you haven't got it in your pocket?"**

**"Because -"**

**"I saw her send it," said Cho angrily.**

"Well that's nice of her." Hermione said blinking in surprise.

"I know, I wasn't expecting her too." Cris said.

**Filch rounded on her.**

**"You saw her -?"**

**"That's right, I saw her," she said fiercely.**

**There was a moment's pause in which Filch glared at Cho and Cho glared right back, then the caretaker turned on his heel and shuffled back towards the door. He stopped with his hand on the handle and looked back at Cris.**

**"If I get so much as a whiff of a Dungbomb."**

"That's good, because you won't." Sirius said.

**He stumped off down the stairs. Mrs. Norris cast a last longing look at the owls and followed him.**

**Cris and Cho looked at each other.**

**"Thanks," Cris said.**

**"No problem," said Cho, finally fixing the parcel to the barn owl's other leg, her face slightly pink. "You weren't ordering Dungbombs, were you?"**

**"No," said Cris.**

**"I wonder why he thought you were, then?" she said as she carried the owl to the window.**

"Because a toad is now telling lies about Cris." Remus said. Amelia was now writing stuff down on a piece of parchment getting stuff on Umbridge most likely.

**Cris shrugged. She was quite as mystified by that as she was, though oddly it was not bothering her very much at the moment.**

**They left the Owlery together. At the entrance of a corridor that led towards the west wing of the castle, Cho said, "I'm going this way. Well, I'll… I'll see you around, Cris."**

**"Yeah… see you."**

**She smiled at her and departed. Cris walked on, feeling quietly elated. She had managed to have an entire conversation with Cho without mentioning Cedric, she knew it was stupid, but not having to think about that night was what she really wanted.**

**"Morning," Cris said brightly to Ron and Hermione as she joined them at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.**

**"What are you looking so pleased about?" said Ron, eyeing Cris in surprise.**

**"Erm… Quidditch later," said Cris happily, pulling a large platter of bacon and eggs towards her.**

**"Oh… yeah…" said Ron. He put down the piece of toast he was eating and took a large swig of pumpkin juice. Then he said, "Listen… you don't fancy going out a bit earlier with me, do you? Just to - er - give me some practice before training? So I can, you know, get my eye in a bit."**

**"Yeah, okay," said Cris.**

**"Look, I don't think you should," said Hermione seriously. "You're both really behind on homework as it -"**

"Thanks for trying to help Mia." Cris said.

"No problem," Hermione said.

**But she broke off; the morning post was arriving and, as usual, the Daily Prophet was soaring towards her in the beak of a screech owl, which landed perilously close to the sugar bowl and held out a leg. Hermione pushed a Knut into its leather pouch, took the newspaper, and scanned the front page critically as the owl took off.**

**"Anything interesting?" said Ron. Cris grinned, knowing Ron was keen to keep her off the subject of homework.**

**"No," she sighed, "just some guff about the bass player in the Weird Sisters getting married."**

"That's interesting," Tonks said.

"Not everyone is as fanatic as you are about the Weird Sisters." Charlie said. Teddy looked at his mum.

"I know Charlie said you were a fan but I didn't know you were that much of a fan." Teddy said. Tonks blushed and Charlie laughed as Teddy continued reading.

**Hermione opened the paper and disappeared behind it. Cris devoted herself to another helping of eggs and bacon. Ron was staring up at the high windows, looking slightly preoccupied.**

**"Wait a moment," said Hermione suddenly. "Oh no… Sirius!"**

"What happened?" Lily asked panicked.

"Nothing to worry about." Sirius said.

**"What's happened?" said Cris, snatching at the paper so violently it ripped down the middle, with her and Hermione each holding one half.**

**"'The Ministry of Magic has received a tip-off from a reliable source that Sirius Black, notorious mass murderer… blah blah blah… is currently hiding in London!'" Hermione read from her half in an anguished whisper.**

"Told you that was a bad idea." Remus said.

"He probably would have been fine if Molly hadn't saved anything." Tonks said.

"I'm so sorry Sirius," Mrs. Weasley said.

"It's alright Molly," Sirius said.

**"Lucius Malfoy I'll bet anything," said Cris in a low, furious voice. "He did recognize Sirius on the platform…"**

**"What?" said Ron, looking alarmed. "You didn't say -"**

**"Shh!" said the other two.**

**"… 'warns wizarding community that Black is very dangerous… killed thirteen people… broke out of Azkaban… ' the usual rubbish," Hermione concluded, laying down her half of the paper and looking fearfully at Cris and Ron. "Well, he just won't be able to leave the house again, that's all," she whispered. "Dumbledore did warn him not to."**

**Cris looked down glumly at the bit of the Prophet she had torn off. Most of the page was devoted to an advertisement for Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, which was apparently having a sale.**

**"Hey!" she said, flattening it down so Hermione and Ron could see it. "Look at this!"**

**"I've got all the robes I want," said Ron.**

**"No," said Cris. "Look… this little piece here…"**

**Ron and Hermione bent closer to read it; the item was barely an inch long and placed right at the bottom of a column. It was headlined:**

**TRESPASS AT MINISTRY**

"What?!" cried the marauders.

"What happened?" Prongs asked.

"You'll see if you let me read." Teddy said.

"Alright Mini-Moony." Prongs said.

**Sturgis Podmore, **

"Doesn't he work for the Order?" Gwen asked.

"Yep," Bill said.

"This doesn't sound good." Lily said.

**38, of number two, Laburnum Garden s, Clapham, has appeared in front of the Wizengamot charged with trespass and attempted robbery at the Ministry of Magic on 31st August. Podmore was arrested by Ministry of Magic watch wizard Eric Munch, who found him attempting to force his way through a top-security door at one o'clock in the morning. Podmore, who refused to speak in his own defense, was convicted on both charges and sentenced to six months in Azkaban.**

"Um, maybe he was under the Imperius." Gwen said.

"That's a good possibility." Mad-Eye said.

**"Sturgis Podmore?" said Ron slowly. "He's that bloke who looks like his head's been thatched, isn't he? He's one of the Ord—"**

"Don't talk about it!" Bill hissed.

"Sorry," Ron said sheepishly.

**"Ron, shh!" said Hermione, casting a terrified look around them.**

**"Six months in Azkaban!" whispered Cris, shocked. "Just for trying to get through a door!"**

**"Don't be silly, it wasn't just for trying to get through a door. What on earth was he doing at the Ministry of Magic at one o'clock in the morning?" breathed Hermione.**

**"D'you reckon he was doing something for the Order?" Ron muttered.**

**"Wait a moment…" said Cris slowly. "Sturgis was supposed to come and see us off, remember?"**

"Yeah, he even had my invisibility cloak." Mad-Eye said.

"It certainly does seem like Imperius." Tonks said.

**The other two looked at her.**

**"Yeah, he was supposed to be part of our guard going to King's Cross, remember? And Moody was all annoyed because he didn't turn up; so he couldn't have been on a job for them, could he?"**

**"Well, maybe they didn't expect him to get caught," said Hermione.**

**"It could be a frame-up!" Ron exclaimed excitedly. "No - listen!" he went on, dropping his voice dramatically at the threatening look on Hermione's face. "The Ministry suspects he's one of Dumbledore's lot so - I dunno - they lured him to the Ministry, and he wasn't trying to get through a door at all! Maybe they've just made something up to get him!"**

"That's also a possibility." Mad-Eye said.

"I could see them doing something like that." Charlie said.

**There was a pause while Cris and Hermione considered this. Cris thought it seemed farfetched. Hermione, on the other hand, looked rather impressed.**

**"Do you know, I wouldn't be at all surprised if that were true."**

**She folded up her half of the newspaper thoughtfully. As Cris laid down her knife and fork, she seemed to come out of a reverie.**

**"Right, well, I think we should tackle that essay for Sprout on self-fertilizing shrubs first and if we're lucky we'll be able to start McGonagall's Inanimatus Conjurus Spell before lunch…"**

**Cris felt a small twinge of guilt at the thought of the pile of homework awaiting her upstairs, but the sky was a clear, exhilarating blue, and she had not been on her Firebolt for a week… **

"I know how you feel Prongslet." Prongs said.

"I know, I just wanted to feel the wind in my face." Cris said.

"It does help clear the mind." Prongs agreed.

**"I mean, we can do it tonight," said Ron, as he and Cris walked down the sloping lawns towards the Quidditch pitch, their broomsticks over their shoulders, and with Hermione's dire warnings that they would fail all their OWLs still ringing in their ears. "And we've got tomorrow. She gets too worked up about work, that's her trouble…" There was a pause and he added, in a slightly more anxious tone, "D'you think she meant it when she said we weren't copying from her?" **

"You two should study on your own." Lily said.

"It's a lot more fun to do it together though." Cris said.

"That it is," Padfoot said.

**"Yeah, I do," said Cris. "Still, this is important; too, we've got to practice if we want to stay on the Quidditch team…"**

**"Yeah, that's right," said Ron, in a heartened tone. "And we have got plenty of time to do it all…"**

"Just manage your time," Lily said.

"We still got our work done in time." Cris said.

"Barely," Ron muttered.

"Maybe for you." Cris whispered to him.

**As they approached the Quidditch pitch, Cris glanced over to her right to where the trees of the Forbidden Forest were swaying darkly. Nothing flew out of them; the sky was empty but for a few distant owls fluttering around the Owlery tower. She had enough to worry about; the flying horse wasn't doing her any harm; she pushed it out of her mind.**

**They collected balls from the cupboard in the changing room and set to work, Ron guarding the three tall goalposts, Cris playing Chaser and trying to get the Quaffle past Ron. Cris thought Ron was pretty good; he blocked three-quarters of the goals Cris attempted to put past him and played better the longer they practiced. **

"That's not too bad." Charlie said.

"Cris is a pretty good chaser but a better seeker." Ron said.

"Thanks Ron," Cris said.

**After a couple of hours they returned to the castle for lunch - during which Hermione made it quite clear she thought they were irresponsible — then returned to the Quidditch pitch for the real training session. All their teammates but Angelina were already in the changing room when they entered.**

**"All right, Ron?" said George, winking at him.**

**"Yeah," said Ron, who had become quieter and quieter all the way down to the pitch.**

"There's no need to be nervous, nervousness can make you mess up." Prongs said.

"Now I'm told that." Ron said shaking his head.

**"Ready to show us all up, Ickle Prefect?" said Fred, emerging tousle-haired from the neck of his Quidditch robes, a slightly malicious grin on his face.**

"Oh-uh, when dad gets that look," James said.

"Run!" Lily J and Al yelled.

"They know us so well." George said.

"Well they are our kids." Fred said.

**"Shut up," said Ron, stony-faced, pulling on his own team robes for the first time. They fitted him well considering they had been Oliver Wood's, who was rather broader in the shoulder.**

**"Okay, everyone," said Angelina, entering from the Captain's office, already changed. "Let's get to it; Alicia and Fred, if you can just bring out the ball crate for us. Oh, and there are a couple of people out there watching but I want you to just ignore them, all right?"**

"Hopefully it's not Slytherins," Charlie said.

**Something in her would-be casual voice made Cris think she might know who the uninvited spectators were, and sure enough, when they left the changing room for the bright sunlight of the pitch it was to a storm of catcalls and jeers from the Slytherin Quidditch team and assorted hangers-on, who were grouped halfway up the empty stands and whose voices echoed loudly around the stadium.**

**"What's that Weasley's riding?'" **

**Malfoy called in his sneering drawl. "Why would anyone put a flying charm on a moldy old log like that?"**

"Shut up!" yelled the room.

"I know, I'm so sorry." Draco said.

"We weren't talking to you; we were talking to book you." Prongs said.

**Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy Parkinson guffawed and shrieked with laughter. Ron mounted his broom and kicked off from the ground and Cris followed him, watching his ears turn red from behind.**

**"Ignore them," she said, accelerating to catch up with Ron, "we'll see who's laughing after we play them…"**

"I hope you teach them that." Prongs said.

"We kind of did." Cris said.

"I had a black eye after that." Draco said.

"Sorry," Cris and George said.

**"Exactly the attitude I want, Cris," said Angelina approvingly, soaring around them with the Quaffle under her arm and slowing to hover on the spot in front of her airborne team. "Okay, everyone, we're going to start with some passes just to warm up, the whole team please -"**

**"Hey, Johnson, what's with that hairstyle, anyway?" shrieked Pansy Parkinson from below. "Why would anyone want to look like they've got worms coming out of their head?" **

"I thought it was cool." Draco said.

"It has become a popular hairstyle. Roxi and Becca have it done." Lily J said.

"Roxi and Becca?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Uncle Charlie's daughters." Al said.

"Oh, how old are they?" Charlie asked.

"Roxi is 11 and Becca is 8." Victoire said.

"Roxi is in Gryffindor if you're wondering." Keiran said.

**Angelina swept her long braided hair out of her face and continued calmly, "Spread out, then, and let's see what we can do…"**

**Cris reversed away from the others to the far side of the pitch. Ron fell back towards the opposite goal. Angelina raised the Quaffle with one hand and threw it hard to Fred, who passed to George, who passed to Cris, who passed to Ron, who dropped it.**

"It's okay, not everyone catches it all the time." Scarlett said.

"Are you a chaser?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah," Scarlett said.

**The Slytherins, led by Malfoy, roared and screamed with laughter. Ron, who had pelted towards the ground to catch the Quaffle before it landed, pulled out of the dive untidily, so that he slipped sideways on his broom, and returned to playing height, blushing. Cris saw Fred and George exchange looks, but uncharacteristically neither of them said anything, for which she was grateful.**

**"Pass it on, Ron," called Angelina, as though nothing had happened.**

**Ron threw the Quaffle to Alicia, who passed back to Cris, who passed to George… **

**"Hey, Potter, how's your scar feeling?" called Malfoy. "Sure you don't need a lie down? It must be, what, a whole week since you were in the hospital wing, that's a record for you, isn't it?"**

"Well that's true," Cris said.

"Though you should have gone already." Lily said.

**George passed to Angelina; she reverse-passed to Cris, who had not been expecting it, but caught it in the very tips of her fingers and passed it quickly to Ron, who lunged for it and missed by inches.**

**"Come on now, Ron," said Angelina crossly, as he dived for the ground again, chasing the Quaffle. "Pay attention."**

**It would have been hard to say whether Ron's face or the Quaffle was a deeper scarlet when he again returned to playing height. Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherin team were howling with laughter.**

"Sir, you should make it only so that the teams and not any other house could eaves drop on them." Charlie said.

"I will make a note." Dumbledore said.

**On his third attempt, Ron caught the Quaffle; perhaps out of relief he passed it on so enthusiastically that it soared straight through Katie's outstretched hands and hit her hard in the face.**

**"Sorry!" Ron groaned, zooming forwards to see whether he had done any damage.**

**"Get back in position, she's fine!" barked Angelina. "But as you're passing to a teammate, do try not to knock her off her broom, won't you? We've got Bludgers for that!"**

**Katie's nose was bleeding. Down below, the Slytherins were stamping their feet and jeering. Fred and George converged on Katie.**

**"Here, take this," Fred told her, handing her something small and purple from out of his pocket, "it'll clear it up in no time."**

The twins winced at that.

"What did you two give her?" Bill asked.

"We meant to give her something to stop the bleeding," Fred said. The group winced.

"We gave her the other instead on accident." George said.

**"All right," called Angelina, "Fred, George, go and get your bats and a Bludger. Ron, get up to the goalposts. Cris, release the Snitch when I say so. We're going to aim for Ron's goal, obviously."**

**Cris zoomed off after the twins to fetch the Snitch.**

**"Ron's making a right pig's ear of things, isn't he?" muttered George, as the three of them landed at the crate containing the balls and opened it to extract one of the Bludgers and the Snitch.**

**"He's just nervous," said Cros, "he was fine when I was practicing with him this morning."**

**"Yeah, well, I hope he hasn't peaked too soon," said Fred gloomily.**

**They returned to the air. When Angelina blew her whistle, Cris released the Snitch and Fred and George let fly the Bludger. From that moment on, Cris was barely aware of what the others were doing. It was her job to recapture the tiny fluttering golden ball that was worth a hundred and fifty points to the Seeker's team and doing so required enormous speed and skill. She accelerated, rolling and swerving in and out of the Chasers, the warm autumn air whipping her face, and the distant yells of the Slytherins so much meaningless roaring in her ears… but too soon, the whistle brought him to a halt again.**

**"Stop - stop - STOP!" screamed Angelina. "Ron - you're not covering your middle post!"**

"Yeah, I need to work on that." Ron said.

"It's okay, you're getting there." Ginny said.

**Cris looked round at Ron, who was hovering in front of the left-hand hoop, leaving the other two completely unprotected.**

**"Oh… sorry…"**

**"You keep shifting around while you're watching the Chasers!" said Angelina. "Either stay in center position until you have to move to defend a hoop, or else circle the hoops, but don't drift vaguely off to one side, that's how you let in the last three goals!"**

**"Sorry…" Ron repeated, his red face shining like a beacon against the bright blue sky.**

**"And Katie, can't you do something about that nosebleed?"**

**"It's just getting worse!" said Katie thickly, attempting to stem the flow with her sleeve. **

"Fred!" screeched his mother.

"I didn't mean to give her the wrong end, they look the same sometimes." Fred said.

"Molly, they were only trying to help." Mr. Weasley said.

**Cris glanced round at Fred, who was looking anxious and checking his pockets. She saw Fred pull out something purple, examine it for a second and then look round at Katie, evidently horror-struck.**

"See I didn't mean too." Fred said sadly.

"It's okay; at least we got Katie to the ground before she passed out." Cris said.

**"Well, let's try again," said Angelina. She was ignoring the Slytherins, who had now set up a chant of "Gryffindor are losers, Gryffindor are losers,"**

"You know, you really suck at insults." Charlie said.

"I know," Draco said.

**but there was a certain rigidity about her seat on the broom nevertheless.**

**This time they had been flying for barely three minutes when Angelina's whistle sounded. Cris, who had just sighted the Snitch circling the opposite goalpost, pulled up feeling distinctly aggrieved.**

**"What now?" she said impatiently to Alicia, who was nearest.**

**"Katie," she said shortly.**

**Cris turned and saw Angelina, Fred and George all flying as fast as they could towards Katie. Cris and Alicia sped towards her, too. It was plain that Angelina had stopped training just in time; Katie was now chalk white and covered in blood. **

"Thank god you got to her in time." Gwen said.

**"She needs the hospital wing," said Angelina.**

**"We'll take her," said Fred. "She - er - might have swallowed a Blood Blisterpod by mistake -"**

"See, just a mistake." Bill said.

**"Well, there's no point continuing with no Beaters and a Chaser gone," said Angelina glumly as Fred and George zoomed off towards the castle supporting Katie between them. "Come on, let's go and get changed."**

**The Slytherins continued to chant as they trailed back into the changing rooms.**

"I know, I know, that was just rude." Draco said.

"Good, we don't have to slap you for it." Hermione said.

**"How was practice?" asked Hermione rather coolly half an hour later, as Cris and Ron climbed through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room.**

**"It was -" Cris began.**

**"Completely lousy," said Ron in a hollow voice, sinking into a chair beside Hermione. She looked up at Ron and her frostiness seemed to melt.**

**"Well, it was only your first one," she said consolingly, "it's bound to take time to -"**

"I know, I could have said that better." Hermione said.

"It's not your fault." Ron said kissing her cheek.

**"Who said it was me who made it lousy?" snapped Ron.**

"Yeah, I kind of figured you would interpret it like that." Charlie said.

"**No one," said Hermione, looking taken aback, "I thought -"**

"**You thought I was bound to be rubbish?"**

"**No, of course I didn't! Look, you said it was lousy so I just -"**

"**I'm going to get started on some homework," said Ron**

"Well that's a first." Padfoot said.

"I know, it's a miracle!" James shouted. Scarlett slapped him and he looked at her.

"Be nice to your uncle." Scarlett said.

"Yes Scar," James said. Lily J and Al chuckled and coughed whipped.

**angrily and stomped off to the staircase to the boys' dormitories and vanished from sight. Hermione turned to Cris.**

"**Was he lousy?"**

**"No," said Cris loyally. "but he does need work, especially on his confidence." **

"Thanks," Ron said.

"Anytime Red," Cris said.

**Hermione raised her eyebrows.**

**"Well, I suppose he could've played better," Cris muttered, "but it was only the first training session, like you said…"**

**Neither Cris nor Ron seemed to make much headway with their homework that night. Cris knew Ron was too preoccupied with how badly he had performed at Quidditch practice and she herself was having difficulty in getting the "Gryffindor are losers" chant out of her head.**

**They spent the whole of Sunday in the common room, buried in their books while the room around them filled up, then emptied. It was another clear, fine day and most of their fellow Gryffindors spent the day out in the grounds, enjoying what might well be some of the last sunshine that year. By the evening, Cris felt as though somebody had been beating her brain against the inside of her skull.**

**"You know, we probably should try and get more homework done during the week," Cris muttered to Ron,**

"That's what I kept telling you." Hermione said.

"We're stubborn," Ron said.

"What do you expect?" Cris asked.

**as they finally laid aside Professor McGonagall's long essay on the Inanimatus Conjurus Spell and turned miserably to Professor Sinistra's equally long and difficult essay about Jupiter's many moons.**

**"Yeah," said Ron, rubbing slightly bloodshot eyes and throwing his fifth spoiled bit of parchment into the fire beside them. "Listen… shall we just ask Hermione if we can have a look at what she's done?"**

**Cris glanced over at her; she was sitting with Crookshanks on her lap and chatting merrily to Ginny as a pair of knitting needles flashed in midair in front of her, now knitting a pair of shapeless elf socks.**

"How did you know they were socks?" Hermione asked.

Cris shrugged her shoulders. "A guess,"

**"No," she said heavily, "you know she won't let us."**

**And so they worked on while the sky outside the windows became steadily darker. Slowly, the crowd in the common room began to thin again. At half past eleven, Hermione wandered over to them, yawning.**

**"Nearly done?"**

**"No," said Ron shortly.**

**"Jupiter's biggest moon is Ganymede, not Callisto," she said, pointing over Ron's shoulder at a line in his Astronomy essay, "and it's lo that's got the volcanoes."**

"Well at least you still help." Lily said.

"It's what I do." Hermione said.

**"Thanks," snarled Ron, scratching out the offending sentences.**

**"Sorry, I only -"**

**"Yeah, well, if you've just come over here to criticize -"**

**"Ron -"**

**"I haven't got time to listen to a sermon, all right, Hermione; I'm up to my neck in it here -"**

**"No - look!"**

**Hermione was pointing to the nearest window. Cris and Ron both looked over. A handsome screech owl was standing on the windowsill, gazing into the room at Ron.**

**"Isn't that Hermes?" said Hermione, sounding amazed.**

**"Blimey, it is!" said Ron quietly, throwing down his quill and getting to his feet. "What's Percy writing to me for?" **

"Yeah, why is he writing you?" Bill asked his eyebrows scrunched together.

"You don't want to know but since it's in here you'll find out." Ron said.

"We aren't going to like this are we?" Charlie asked.

"Not really." Cris said.

**He crossed to the window and opened it; Hermes flew inside, landed on Ron's essay and held out a leg to which a letter was attached. Ron took the letter off it and the owl departed at once, leaving inky footprints across Ron's drawing of the moon lo.**

**"That's definitely Percy's handwriting," said Ron, sinking back into his chair and staring at the words on the outside of the scroll: **_**Ronald Weasley, Gryffindor House, Hogwarts**_**. He looked up at the other two. "What d'you reckon?"**

**"Open it!" said Hermione eagerly, and Cris nodded.**

**Ron unrolled the scroll and began to read. The further down the parchment his eyes traveled, the more pronounced became his scowl. When he had finished reading, he looked disgusted.**

"I so don't want to know." Sirius said.

**He thrust the letter at Cris and Hermione, who leaned towards each other to read it together:**

_**Dear Ron,**_

_**I have only just heard (from no less a person than the Minister for Magic himself, who has it from your new teacher, Professor Umbridge) that you have become a Hogwarts prefect. I was most pleasantly surprised when I heard this news and must firstly offer my congratulations.**_

_**I must admit that I have always been afraid that you would take what we might call the 'Fred and George' route, rather than following in my footsteps, **_

"Hey we're awesome!" the twins shouted.

"I know you are." Cris said with a smirk.

_**so you can imagine my feelings on hearing you have stopped flouting authority and have decided to shoulder some real responsibility.**_

"We do have responsibility; it's just different from yours as we are friends with Cris." Ron said.

"I know that now, I am truly sorry." Percy said.

"It's okay son, you now know the truth." Mr. Weasley said.

_**But I want to give you more than congratulations, Ron, I want to give you some advice, which is why I am sending this at night rather than by the usual morning post. Hopefully, you will be able to read this away from prying eyes and avoid awkward questions.**_

"Well that didn't work." Charlie said.

"I don't keep something like this from my friends." Ron said.

_**From something the Minister let slip when telling me you are now a prefect, I gather that you are still seeing a lot of Cristal Potter. I must tell you, Ron, that nothing could put you in danger of losing your badge more than continued fraternization with that girl. **_

"What!" shouted the room.

"I know, I was stupid." Percy said.

"I abandoned her once when I didn't believe her and I am not doing it again." Ron said. Cris went over and hugged her best friend, though nobody noticed the looks from the future kids.

_**Yes, I am sure you are surprised to hear this - no doubt you will say that Potter has always been Dumbledore's favorite — but I feel bound to tell you that Dumbledore may not be in charge at Hogwarts much longer and the people who count have a very different - and probably more accurate - view of Potter's behavior. **_

"You don't know anything about her!" Remus shouted.

"I know, I didn't know how she was raised or what went on in the maze and I am sorry." Percy said.

_**I shall say no more here, but if you look at the Daily Prophet tomorrow you will get a good idea of the way the wind is blowing — and see if you can spot yours truly!**_

"What can you do? How old are you twenty-two?" Lily asked. Percy blushed and Teddy read on.

_**Seriously, Ron, you do not want to be tarred with the same brush as Potter, it could be very damaging to your future prospects, and I am talking here about life after school, too. As you must be aware, given that our father escorted her to court, Potter had a disciplinary hearing this summer in front of the whole Wizengamot and she did not come out of it looking too good. She got off on a mere technicality, if you ask me, and many of the people I've spoken to remain convinced of her guilt.**_

_**It may be that you are afraid to sever ties with Potter - I know that she can be unbalanced and, for all I know, violent -**_

"Only to those who threaten my friends and family." Cris said.

"I know," Keiran said.

"We've seen it." Teddy said. The two of them shuddered at the memory.

_**but if you have any worries about this, or have spotted anything else in Potter's behavior that is troubling you, I urge you to speak to Dolores Umbridge, a truly delightful woman who I know will be only too happy to advise you.**_

"Delightful?" Charlie asked his younger brother. "No offence Perce, but have you gone insane?"

"I think he has Charlie, sad really, I thought he was the smart one." Bill said.

_**This leads me to my other bit of advice. As I have hinted above, Dumbledore's regime at Hogwarts may soon be over. Your loyalty, Ron, should be not to him, but to the school and the Ministry. I am very sorry to hear that, so far, Professor Umbridge is encountering very little cooperation from staff as she strives to make those necessary changes within Hogwarts that the Ministry so ardently desires (although she should find this easier from next week — again, see the Daily Prophet tomorrow!). I shall say only this - a student who shows himself willing to help Professor Umbridge now may be very well-placed for Head Boyship in a couple of years!**_

"Why do I have to be nice to her? She is completely awful." Ron said.

"I agree with you." Charlie said.

"Besides, there are more things in life than becoming Head Boy." Bill said.

_**I am sorry that I was unable to see more of you over the summer. It pains me to criticize our parents, but I am afraid I can no longer live under their roof while they remain mixed up with the dangerous crowd around Dumbledore. (If you are writing to Mother at any point, you might tell her that a certain Sturgis Podmore, who is a great friend of Dumbledore's, has recently been sent to Azkaban for trespass at the Ministry. Perhaps that will open their eyes to the kind of petty criminals with whom they are currently rubbing shoulders.) I count myself very lucky to have escaped the stigma of association with such people - the Minister really could not be more gracious to me — and I do hope, Ron, that you will not allow family ties to blind you to the misguided nature of our parents' beliefs and actions, either. I sincerely hope that, in time, they will realize how mistaken they were and I shall, of course, be ready to accept a full apology when that day comes.**_

"Perce, sorry to burst your bubble but it should be the other way around." Bill said.

"I know, I was stupid." Percy said.

"I tell you what my brother told me after our sister died Percy, don't stride to prove yourself to those of higher power, follow your heart it'll lead you right, the government isn't always right they tell you things they want you to hear not what you need to hear. When in doubt listen to people you trust or those who care for you, they won't lead you astray." Gwen said.

"Those are deep words Miss Johnson." Dumbledore said. Gwen blushed and hid her face in Viktor's chest who laughed and held her to him.

_**Please think over what I have said most carefully, particularly the bit about Cristal Potter, and congratulations again on becoming prefect.**_

_**Your brother,**_

"Well at least you're still admitting that." Bill said.

_**Percy**_

"For offence bro, but you have definitely lost your mind." Charlie said.

"I think so too," Percy muttered under his breath.

**Cris looked up at Ron.**

**"Well," she said, trying to sound as though she found the whole thing a joke, "if you want to - er - what is it?" - she checked Percy's letter - "Oh yeah - 'severe ties' with me, I swear I won't get violent."**

**"Give it back," said Ron, holding out his hand. "He is -" Ron said jerkily, tearing Percy's letter in half "the world's -" he tore it into quarters "biggest -" he tore it into eighths "git." He threw the pieces into the fire.**

"Well that's one solution to the problem." Robin said with a smile. Percy looked down; now that he knew the truth he was truly disgusted with himself.

**"Come on, we've got to get this finished sometime before dawn," he said briskly to Cris, pulling Professor Sinistra's essay back towards him.**

**Hermione was looking at Ron with an odd expression on her face.**

**"Oh, give them here," she said abruptly.**

**"What?" said Ron.**

**"Give them to me, I'll look through them and correct them," she said.**

"You can never stay mad at them for too long." Ginny said with laugh.

"I know," Hermione said.

**"Are you serious? Ah, Hermione, you're a life-saver," said Ron, "what can I -?"**

**"What you can say is, promise we'll never leave our homework this late again," she said, holding out both hands for their essays, but she looked slightly amused all the same.**

**"Thanks a million, Hermione," said Cris weakly, passing over her essay and sinking back into her armchair, rubbing her eyes.**

**It was now past midnight and the common room was deserted but for the three of them and Crookshanks. The only sound was that of Hermione's quill scratching out sentences here and there on their essays and the ruffle of pages as she checked various facts in the reference books strewn across the table. Cris was exhausted. She also felt an odd, sick, empty feeling in her stomach that had nothing to do with tiredness and everything to do with the letter now curling blackly in the heart of the fire.**

**She knew that half the people inside Hogwarts thought her strange, even mad; she knew that the Daily Prophet had been making snide allusions to her for months, but there was something about seeing it written down like that in Percy's writing, about knowing that Percy was advising Ron to drop her and even to tell tales about her to Umbridge, that made her situation real to her as nothing else had. She had known Percy for four years, had stayed in his house during the summer holidays, she had even been awarded full marks by him in the second task of the Triwizard Tournament last year, yet now, Percy thought him unbalanced and possibly violent.**

"I'm sorry, I was so stupid." Percy said.

"Yes, you were. If I was ever violent you would have seen it by now. I know I have a temper but I rarely yell at people unless they annoy me." Cris said.

"Which seems to be often recently." Hermione said.

"I know, and I am sorry." Cris said.

**And with a surge of sympathy for her godfather, Cris thought Sirius was probably the only person she knew who could really understand how she felt at the moment, because Sirius was in the same situation. Nearly everyone in the wizarding world thought Sirius a dangerous murderer and a great Voldemort supporter and he had had to live with that knowledge for fourteen years…**

**Cris blinked. She had just seen something in the fire that could not have been there. It had flashed into sight and vanished immediately. No… it could not have been… she had imagined it because she had been thinking about Sirius…**

"What are you doing know?" Remus asked sighing rubbing tiredly at his eyes.

"My duty as godfather." Sirius said.

**"Okay, write that down," Hermione said to Ron, pushing his essay and a sheet covered in her own writing back to Ron, "then add this conclusion I've written for you."**

"How often does that happen?" Lily asked.

"Not too often, we usually have really late nights." Cris said.

"How late?" Prongs asked.

"Late enough." Hermione said.

**"Hermione, you are honestly the most wonderful person I've ever met," said Ron weakly, "and if I'm ever rude to you again -"**

**"- I'll know you're back to normal," said Hermione. "Cris, yours is good except for this bit at the end, I think you must have misheard Professor Sinistra, Europa's covered in ice, not mice - Cris?"**

"That was an honest spelling mistake; it happens a lot when we are up late like that." Cris said.

"Which is why I look it over after a late night." Hermione said.

"That's a pretty good system." Prongs said.

**Cris had slid off her chair on to her knees and was now crouching on the singed and threadbare hearthrug, gazing into the flames.**

**"Er - Cris?" said Ron uncertainly. "Why are you down there?"**

**"Because I've just seen Sirius's head in the fire," said Cris.**

"Sirius! You could get caught." Lily said.

"I wasn't," Sirius said.

"I know, and I thank you for looking after Cris." Prongs said with a smile at his old friend.

**She spoke quite calmly; after all, she had seen Sirius's head in this very fire the previous year and talked to it, too; nevertheless, she could not be sure that she had really seen it this time… it had vanished so quickly…**

**"Sirius's head?" Hermione repeated. "You mean like when he wanted to talk to you during the Triwizard Tournament? But he wouldn't do that now, it would be too - Sirius!"**

"You did do that." Remus said.

"So that's why you stayed up so late." Robin said. Robin then blushed as did Sirius for that comment as the group chuckled.

**She gasped, gazing at the fire; Ron dropped his quill. There in the middle of the dancing flames sat Sirius's head, long dark hair falling around his grinning face.**

**"I was starting to think you'd go to bed before everyone else had disappeared," he said. "I've been checking every hour."**

"That was very dangerous." Charlie said.

"I know, but I couldn't really send her a letter now could I?" Sirius asked.

**"You've been popping into the fire every hour?" Cris said, half-laughing.**

**"Just for a few seconds to check if the coast was clear."**

**"But what if you'd been seen?" said Hermione anxiously.**

**"Well, I think a girl - first-year, by the look of her - might've got a glimpse of me earlier, but don't worry" Sirius said hastily, as Hermione clapped a hand to her mouth, "I was gone the moment she looked back at me and I'll bet she just thought I was an oddly-shaped log or something."**

"I don't know Sirius, she may not have known what she saw but she still could have told." Tonks said.

**"But, Sirius, this is taking an awful risk -" Hermione began.**

**"You sound like Molly," said Sirius. "This was the only way I could come up with of answering Cris' letter without resorting to a code - and codes are breakable."**

**At the mention of Cris' letter, Hermione and Ron both turned to stare at her.**

**"You didn't say you'd written to Sirius!" said Hermione accusingly.**

**"I forgot," said Cris, which was perfectly true; her meeting with Cho in the Owlery had driven everything before it out of her mind. "Don't look at me like that, Hermione, there was no way anyone would have got secret information out of it, was there, Sirius?"**

**"No, it was very good," said Sirius, smiling. "Anyway, we'd better be quick, just in case we're disturbed - your scar."**

**"What about -?" Ron began, but Hermione interrupted him. "We'll tell you afterwards. Go on, Sirius."**

**"Well, I know it can't be fun when it hurts, but we don't think it's anything to really worry about. It kept aching all last year, didn't it?"**

**"Yeah, and Dumbledore said it happened whenever Voldemort was feeling a powerful emotion," said Cris, ignoring, as usual, Ron and Hermione's winces. "So maybe he was just, I dunno, really angry or something the night I had that detention." **

"That is possible," Remus said.

"Though we can't know for sure." Robin said.

**"Well, now he's back it's bound to hurt more often," said Sirius.**

**"So you don't think it had anything to do with Umbridge touching me when I was in detention with her?" Cris asked.**

**"I doubt it," said Sirius. "I know her by reputation and I'm sure she's no Death Eater -" **

"Though she is evil." Keiran said with a growl.

**"She's foul enough to be one," said Cris darkly, and Ron and Hermione nodded vigorously in agreement.**

Keiran looked at his young godmother.

"I think you've been spending a lot of time with mum Keiran." Lily J said with a smile.

"Shut up Lils," Keiran said blushing as the group laughed.

**"Yes, but the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters," said Sirius with a wry smile. "I know she's a nasty piece of work, though — you should hear Remus talk about her."**

**"Does Remus know her?" asked Cris quickly, remembering Umbridge's comments about dangerous half-breeds during her first lesson.**

**"No," said Sirius, "but she drafted a bit of anti-werewolf legislation two years ago that makes it almost impossible for him to get a job."**

"It's not their fault though!" Scarlett shouted.

"I know Scar, she is too opinionated though. Can't see the man beyond what they are. As long as they take the potion it's fine and it's only once a month." Robin said. The group turned to glare at the toad for that.

**Cris remembered how much shabbier Remus looked these days and her dislike of Umbridge deepened even further.**

**"What's she got against werewolves?" said Hermione angrily.**

"They are monsters!" Umbridge screeched for the first time in a while. Victoire shot up and got into the toad's face.

"I'm part Veela; does that make me a monster, my mom? No, we are normal people we just have different attributes than you. Just be glad that I'm not full Veela." Victoire spat. Fear was imminent on the toad's face and Keiran kissed Victoire for that.

"Zat's why you do not piss of Veela's." Fleur said proudly. Bill smiled and kissed her too as Teddy continued to read.

**"Scared of them, I expect," said Sirius, smiling at her indignation. **

**"Apparently she loathes part humans; she campaigned to have merpeople rounded up and tagged last year, too. **

"They aren't dangerous, only if you try to harm them." Charlie snapped glaring at the toad.

**Imagine wasting your time and energy persecuting merpeople when there are little toe rags like Kreacher on the loose."**

**Ron laughed but Hermione looked upset.**

**"Sirius!" she said reproachfully. "Honestly, if you made a bit of an effort with Kreacher, I'm sure he'd respond. After all, you are the only member of his family he's got left, and Professor Dumbledore said -"**

**"So, what are Umbridge's lessons like?" Sirius interrupted. "Is she training you all to kill half-breeds?"**

"Well we would be learning spells then wouldn't we." Fred said disgustedly.

**"No," said Cris, ignoring Hermione's affronted look at being cut off in her defense of Kreacher. **

**"She's not letting us use magic at all!"**

**"All we do is read the stupid textbook," said Ron.**

**"Ah, well, that figures," said Sirius. "Our information from inside the Ministry is that Fudge doesn't want you trained in combat."**

"Of course not, how can you possibly defend yourselves if you aren't taught." Lily snapped glaring at the ministry officials.

**"Trained in combat!" repeated Cris incredulously. "What does he think we're doing here, forming some sort of wizard army?"**

The adults didn't see the look that was passed along with the members of Dumbledore's Army.

**"That's exactly what he thinks you're doing," said Sirius, "or, rather, that's exactly what he's afraid Dumbledore's doing - forming his own private army, with which he will be able to take on the Ministry of Magic."**

"Like we would do that, all we're worried about is Voldemort and his Death Eaters." Robin said.

**There was a pause at this, then Ron said, "That's the most stupid thing I've ever heard, including all the stuff that Luna Lovegood comes out with."**

"Sorry," Ron said going red slightly.

"It's alright, but that is absurd." Luna said.

**"So we're being prevented from learning Defense Against the Dark Arts because Fudge is scared we'll use spells against the Ministry?" said Hermione, looking furious.**

**"Yep," said Sirius. "Fudge thinks Dumbledore will stop at nothing to seize power. He's getting more paranoid about Dumbledore by the day. It's a matter of time before he has Dumbledore arrested on some trumped-up charge."**

**This reminded Cris of Percy's letter.**

**"D'you know if there's going to be anything about Dumbledore in the Daily Prophet tomorrow? Ron's brother Percy reckons there will be -"**

**"I don't know," said Sirius, "I haven't seen anyone from the Order all weekend, they're all busy. It's just been Kreacher and me here."**

**There was a definite note of bitterness in Sirius's voice.**

**"So you haven't had any news about Hagrid, either?"**

**"Ah…" said Sirius, "well, he was supposed to be back by now, no one's sure what's happened to him."**

"I hope he's alright." Kit said.

"I'm sure he's alright." Padfoot said.

**Then, seeing their stricken faces, he added quickly, "But Dumbledore's not worried, so don't you three get yourselves in a state; I'm sure Hagrid's fine."**

"Exactly, listen to Sirius." Robin said. Keiran and Scarlett laughed at that.

"That's the first time I heard you say that mum." Scarlett said. Robin blushed as Sirius pouted while Teddy read on.

**"But if he was supposed to be back by now…" said Hermione in a small, anxious voice.**

**"Madame Maxime was with him, we've been in touch with her and she says they got separated on the journey home - but there's nothing to suggest he's hurt or - well, nothing to suggest he's not perfectly okay."**

**Unconvinced, Cris, Ron and Hermione exchanged worried looks.**

**"Listen, don't go asking too many questions about Hagrid," said Sirius hastily, "it'll just draw even more attention to the fact that he's not back and I know Dumbledore doesn't want that. Hagrid's tough, he'll be okay." And when they did not appear cheered by this, Sirius added, "When's your next Hogsmeade weekend, anyway? I was thinking, we got away with the dog disguise at the station, didn't we? I thought I could —" **

"Don't Sirius," Lily said worriedly.

**"NO!" said Cris and Hermione together, very loudly.**

**"Sirius, didn't you see the Daily Prophet?" said Hermione anxiously.**

**"Oh, that," said Sirius, grinning, "they're always guessing where I am, they haven't really got a clue -"**

"Though they were really close." Sirius said.

"I know, I just don't want to lose you too." Cris said.

"Don't worry pup, you won't." Sirius said.

**"Yeah, but we think this time they have,' said Cris. "Something Malfoy said on the train made us think he knew it was you, and his father was on the platform, Sirius - you know, Lucius Malfoy - so don't come up here, whatever you do. If Malfoy recognizes you again -"**

**"All right, all right, I've got the point," said Sirius. He looked most displeased. "Just an idea, thought you might like to get together."**

**"I would, I just don't want you chucked back in Azkaban!" said Cris.**

**There was a pause in which Sirius looked out of the fire at Cris, a crease between his sunken eyes.**

**"You're less like your father than I thought," he said finally, a definite coolness in his voice. "The risk would've been what made it fun for James."**

Cris looked down as Prongs stared at his older best friend. "Pads, I know you sick of being stuck in that house, but please don't take it out on Cris, she's just worried about you and I don't want you to get caught again." Prongs said.

"I know, I'm sorry Prongs, Crisy." Sirius said. Cris looked up and nodded that comment did sting quite a lot.

**"Look -"**

**"Well, I'd better get going, I can hear Kreacher coming down the stairs," said Sirius, but Cris was sure he was lying. "I'll write to tell you a time I can make it back into the fire, then, shall I? If you can stand to risk it?"**

**There was a tiny pop, and the place where Sirius's head had been was flickering flame once more. **

"Well that's the chapter," Teddy said passing it to Keiran.

"Sirius, you know that's not what I meant right?" Cris asked.

"Yeah, I know that pup. I was just sick of being in that house." Sirius said. Cris got up and hugged him tightly before going back to sit as Keiran started the next chater.


	16. Chapter 15: Hogwarts High Inquisitor

"**Chapter 15: Hogwarts High Inquisitor," **Keiran read.

"I don't like the sound of that." Prongs said.

"If it has to do with the toad then of course it's not good." Moony said.

**They had expected to have to comb Hermione's Daily Prophet carefully next morning to find the article Percy had mentioned in his letter. However, the departing delivery owl had barely cleared the top of the milk jug when Hermione let out a huge gasp and flattened the newspaper to reveal a large photograph of Dolores Umbridge, smiling widely and blinking slowly at them from beneath the headline.**

**MINISTRY SEEKS EDUCATIONAL REFORM **

**DOLORES UMBRIDGE APPOINTED **

**FIRST EVER HIGH INQUISITOR**

**"Umbridge – Inquisitor?" said Cris darkly, her half-eaten piece of toast slipping from her fingers. "What does that mean?" Hermione read aloud:**

**"****In a surprise move last night the Ministry of Magic passed new legislation giving itself an unprecedented level of control at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.**

"Isn't that illegal?" Gwen asked.

"Fudge doesn't care Gwen, he's just afraid of what Dumbledore can do." Cris said glaring at the minister.

**"'****The Minister has been growing uneasy about goings-on at Hogwarts for some time,' said junior Assistant to the Minister, Percy Weasley. 'He is now responding to concerns voiced by anxious parents, who feel the school may be moving in a direction they do not approve.'**

"You mean the Slytherin parents, or otherwise Death Eaters?" Padfoot asked.

"Exactly," Cris said.

**"****This is not the first time in recent weeks that the Minister, Cornelius Fudge, has used new laws to effect improvements at the wizarding school. As recently as August 30th, Educational Decree Number Twenty-two was passed, to ensure that, in the event of the current Headmaster being unable to provide a candidate for a teaching post, the Ministry should select an appropriate person. **

"But you didn't select an appropriate person." Cris said.

"No kidding, she's not teaching us anything." Hermione said.

**'****That's how Dolores Umbridge came to be appointed to the teaching staff at Hogwarts,' said Weasley last night. 'Dumbledore couldn't find anyone so the Minister put in Umbridge, and of course, she's been an immediate success —'"**

"No she hasn't!" screeched the room.

"Perce, I'm sorry to tell you this but you have lost your mind." Bill said.

"I have not," Percy said.

"Are you sure?" Charlie asked. Percy blushed and turned red as Keiran continued reading.

**"****She's been a WHAT?" said Cris loudly.**

"A complete success, didn't you hear Cris?" Padfoot asked. Cris turned to glare at her young godfather.

**"****Wait, there's more," said Hermione grimly.**

**"'—****an immediate success, totally revolutionizing the teaching of Defense Against the Dark Arts and providing the Minister with on-the-ground feedback about what's really happening at Hogwarts.'**

"Oh, so she's a spy, I don't like spies." Gwen said. Snape shifted in his seat and Gwen looked at him.

"There are some spies I like, like James Bond, he's cool." She said with a smirk.

"Shaken, not stirred." Cris said. They laughed and pure-bloods were confused.

"I don't get it." Fred said.

"I'll explain later." Hermione said.

**"****It is this last function that the Ministry has now formalized with the passing of Educational Decree Number Twenty-three, which creates the new position of Hogwarts High Inquisitor.**

**"'****This is an exciting new phase in the Minister's plan to get to grips with what some are calling the falling standards at Hogwarts,' said Weasley. 'The Inquisitor will have powers to inspect her fellow educators and make sure that they are coming up to scratch. Professor Umbridge has been offered this position in addition to her own teaching post and we are delighted to say that she has accepted.'**

**"****The Ministry's new moves have received enthusiastic support from parents of students at Hogwarts. **

"Yeah right," Mr. and Mrs. Weasley said.

**'****I feel much easier in my mind now that I know Dumbledore is being subjected to fair and objective evaluation,' said Mr. Lucius Malfoy, 41, speaking from his Wiltshire mansion last night. **

"They are just talking to Voldemort supporters." Charlie said nastily.

"Of course they are, what else do you expect." Lily J said.

**'Many of us with our children's best interests at heart have been concerned about some of Dumbledore's eccentric decisions in the last few years and are glad to know that the Ministry is keeping an eye on the situation.'**

**"****Among those eccentric decisions are undoubtedly the controversial staff appointments previously described in this newspaper, which have included the employment of werewolf Remus Lupin, half-giant Rubeus Hagrid and delusional ex-Auror, 'Mad - Eye' Moody. **

"The only dangerous one on that list was Mad-Eye because it wasn't actually Mad-Eye but a disguised Death Eater." Tonks said. Amelia wrote that down, things were coming into light that she saw coming.

**"****Rumors abound, of course, that Albus Dumbledore, once Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, is no longer up to the task of managing the prestigious school of Hogwarts "'I think the appointment of the Inquisitor is a first step towards ensuring that Hogwarts has a headmaster in whom we can all repose our confidence,' said a Ministry insider last night.**

**"****Wizengamot elders Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberius Ogden have resigned in protest at the introduction of the post of Inquisitor to Hogwarts.**

"That is good, because this whole thing is ridiculous." Kit said.

"Yes it is." Tonks said.

**"'****Hogwarts is a school, not an outpost of Cornelius Fudge's office,' said Madam Marchbanks. 'This is a further disgusting attempt to discredit Albus Dumbledore.'**

**"****(For a full account of Madam Marchbanks's alleged links to subversive goblin groups, turn to page seventeen.)"**

**Hermione finished reading and looked across the table at the other two.**

**"****So now we know how we ended up with Umbridge! Fudge passed this Decree and forced her on us! And now he's given her the power to inspect the other teachers!" Hermione was breathing fast and her eyes were very bright. "I can't believe this. It's outrageous!"**

**"****I know it is," said Cris. She looked down at her right hand, clenched on the table-top, and saw the faint white outline of the words Umbridge had forced her to cut into her skin.**

The group growled and glared at the toad in the room who was tied up in her chair, unable to move.

**But a grin was unfurling on Ron's face.**

**"****What?" said Cris and Hermione together, staring at him.**

**"****Oh, I can't wait to see McGonagall inspected," said Ron happily. "Umbridge won't know what's hit her."**

**"****Well, come on," said Hermione, jumping up, "we'd better get going, if she's inspecting Binns's class we don't want to be late…"**

**But Professor Umbridge was not inspecting their History of Magic lesson, which was just as dull as the previous Monday, nor was she in Snape's dungeon when they arrived for double Potions, where Cris' moonstone essay was handed back to her with a large, spiky black 'P' scrawled in an upper corner.**

"P?" Gwen asked.

"That's not too bad." Lily said.

"I was half dead on my feet when I wrote the stupid paper; I think I did fairly well." Cris said.

"That's true," Prongs said.

**"I have awarded you the grades you would have received if you presented this work in your OWL," said Snape with a smirk, as he swept among them, passing back their homework. "This should give you a realistic idea of what to expect in the examination."**

**Snape reached the front of the class and turned on his heel to face them.**

**"****The general standard of this homework was abysmal. Most of you would have failed had this been your examination. I expect to see a great deal more effort for this week's essay on the various varieties of venom antidotes, or I shall have to start handing out detentions to those dunces who get a D."**

"Having detention would make it even harder to get their grades up though Sev." Lily said.

"Don't bother Lils, that's just how he is." Prongs said.

**He smirked as Malfoy sniggered and said in a carrying whisper, "Some people got a D? Ha!" **

"What did you get?" Ginny asked.

"I got an A," Draco said.

"Wow, I thought you had gotten an O." Ron said.

"Now I'm confused. How on earth is O higher than an A?" Gwen asked.

"I felt the same way, it'll explain shortly, I promise." Lily said.

"Alright," Gwen said.

**Cris realized that Hermione was looking sideways to see what grade she had received; she slid her moonstone essay back into her bag as quickly as possible, feeling that she would rather keep that information private.**

**Determined not to give Snape an excuse to fail her this lesson, Cris read and reread every line of instructions on the blackboard at least three times before acting on them. Her Strengthening Solution was not precisely the clear turquoise shade of Hermione's but it was at least blue rather than pink, like Neville's, and she delivered a flask of it to Snape's desk at the end of the lesson with a feeling of mingled defiance and relief.**

**"****Well, that wasn't as bad as last week, was it?" said Hermione, as they climbed the steps out of the dungeon and made their way across the Entrance Hall towards lunch. "And the homework didn't go too badly, either, did it?"**

"Only you Hermione." Ginny said with a smile.

**When neither Ron nor Cris answered, she pressed on, "I mean, all right, I didn't expect the top grade, not if he's marking to OWL standard, but a pass is quite encouraging at this stage, wouldn't you say?"**

**Cris made a non-committal noise in her throat.**

**"****Of course, a lot can happen between now and the exam, we've got plenty of time to improve, but the grades we're getting now are a sort of baseline, aren't they? Something we can build on…"**

"If you wanted to know than you should just ask." Gwen asked.

"I try not to be too blunt." Hermione asked.

**They sat down together at the Gryffindor table.**

**"****Obviously, I'd have been thrilled if I'd got an O -"**

**"****Hermione," said Ron sharply "if you want to know what grades we got, ask."**

**"****I don't - I didn't mean - well, if you want to tell me -"**

**"****I got a P," said Ron, ladling soup into his bowl. "Happy?"**

**"****Well, that's nothing to be ashamed of," said Fred, who had just arrived at the table with George and Lee Jordan and was sitting down on Cris' right. "Nothing wrong with a good healthy P."**

"Well at least you can work up on it together, and don't do anymore late nights." Lily said.

"Yes mum," Cris said.

**"****But," said Hermione, "doesn't P stand for…"**

**"****Poor, yeah," said Lee Jordan. "Still, better than D, isn't it? 'Dreadful'?"**

"So each letter stands for something?" Gwen asked.

"I'm sure it'll explain all the letters soon." Cris said.

**Cris looked over to where Fred and George were sitting and they winked at her. Cris felt her face grow warm as Hermione started to explain about OWL grades.**

**"****So top grade's O for 'Outstanding'," she was saying, 'and then there's A-"**

**"****No, E," George corrected her, "E for 'Exceeds Expectations'. And I've always thought Fred and I should've got E in everything, because we exceeded expectations just by turning up for the exams."**

"That's what I thought too." Padfoot said.

"Only you," Moony said.

**They all laughed except Hermione, who ploughed on, "So, after E it's A for 'Acceptable', and that's the last pass grade, isn't it?"**

**"****Yep," said Fred, dunking an entire roll in his soup, transferring it to his mouth and swallowing it whole.**

**"****Then you get P for 'Poor'-" Ron raised both his arms in mock celebration - "and D for 'Dreadful'."**

**"****And then T," George reminded him.**

"There's lower than dreadful?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah," Sirius said with a smile and turned towards Remus.

"You promised you wouldn't." Remus said.

"Sirius, be nice." Robin said.

"I'm still trying to figure out how he got it though." Sirius said.

"Got what?" the group asked.

"Oh yeah, he actually got a T." Prongs said with a laugh. Teddy and Cris turned to look at their uncle/dad.

"How on earth did that happen?" Cris asked.

"I second that." Teddy said.

"He exploded his cauldron quite a lot during class, he is dreadful at potions." Padfoot said. Moony and Remus blushed at that.

"Can we continue please?" Remus asked. Keiran took pity on his uncle and continued reading.

**"****T?" asked Hermione, looking appalled. "Even lower than a D? What on earth does that stand for?"**

**"****Troll", said George promptly.**

**Cris laughed again, though she was not sure whether or not George was joking. **

"I wasn't Bambi," George said.

"I know that now." Cris said.

**She imagined trying to conceal from Hermione that she had received T's in all her OWLs and immediately resolved to work harder from now on.**

**"****You lot had an inspected lesson yet?" Fred asked them.**

**"****No," said Hermione at once. "Have you?"**

**"****Just now, before lunch," said George. "Charms."**

**"****What was it like?" Cris and Hermione asked together.**

**Fred shrugged.**

**"****Not that bad. Umbridge just lurked in the corner making notes on a clipboard. You know what Flitwick's like, he treated her like a guest, didn't seem to bother him at all. She didn't say much. Asked Alicia a couple of questions about what the classes are normally like, Alicia told her they were really good, that was it."**

**"****I can't see old Flitwick getting marked down," said George, "he usually gets everyone through their exams all right."**

"Yes, but he has goblin in him, and knowing Umbridge that won't work well at all." Sirius said.

"I didn't know he had goblin in him." Hermione said.

"Explains why he's short." Ron said.

**"****Who've you got this afternoon?" Fred asked Cris.**

**"****Trelawney -"**

**"****A T if ever I saw one."**

**"****- and Umbridge herself."**

**"****Well, be a good girl and keep your temper with Umbridge today" said George. "Angelina will do her nut if you miss any more Quidditch practices."**

"That's the truth." Cris and the twins said.

"Though she's not as bad as Oliver." Fred said.

"True," Cris and George said.

**But Cris did not have to wait for Defense Against the Dark Arts to meet Professor Umbridge.**

"Great," the group groaned.

"Please don't do anything stupid." Lily said.

"I'll try not to." Cris said with a smile.

**She was pulling out her dream diary in a seat at the very back of the shadowy Divination room when Ron elbowed her in the ribs and, looking round, she saw Professor Umbridge emerging through the trapdoor in the floor. The class, which had been talking cheerily fell silent at once.**

**The abrupt fall in the noise level made Professor Trelawney, who had been wafting about handing out copies of The Dream Oracle, look round.**

**"****Good afternoon, Professor Trelawney," said Professor Umbridge with her wide smile. "You received my note, I trust? Giving the time and date of your inspection?" **

"Why do you even treat people like they are lower than you?" Gwen asked.

"Don't bother Gwen, she's a nasty toad." Cris said.

**Professor Trelawney nodded curtly and, looking very disgruntled, turned her back on Professor Umbridge and continued to give out books. Still smiling, Professor Umbridge grasped the back of the nearest armchair and pulled it to the front of the class so that it was a few inches behind Professor Trelawney's seat. She then sat down, took her clipboard from her flowery bag and looked up expectantly, waiting for the class to begin.**

"Man, she's going to make that class suck even worse." Charlie said.

"No kidding," Ron said.

**Professor Trelawney pulled her shawls tight about her with slightly trembling hands and surveyed the class through her hugely magnifying lenses.**

**"We shall be continuing our study of prophetic dreams today," she said in a brave attempt at her usual mystic tones, though her voice shook slightly. "Divide into pairs, please, and interpret each other's latest night-time visions with the aid of the Oracle."**

**She made as though to sweep back to her seat, saw Professor Umbridge sitting right beside it, and immediately veered left towards Parvati and Lavender, who were already deep in discussion about Parvati's most recent dream.**

**Cris opened her copy of The Dream Oracle, watching Umbridge covertly. She was already making notes on her clipboard. After a few minutes she got to her feet and began to pace the room in Trelawney's wake, listening to her conversations with students and posing questions here and there. Cris bent her head hurriedly over her book.**

**"Think of a dream, quick," she told Ron, "in case the old toad comes our way."**

**"I did it last time," Ron protested, "it's your turn, you tell me one." **

"Mate, I'm glad you always make up your dreams, yours are always weird." Ron said.

"I aim to please." Cris said with a smile.

**"Oh, I dunno…" said Cris desperately, who could not remember dreaming anything at all over the last few days. "Lets say I dreamed I was… drowning Snape in my cauldron. Yeah, that'll do…"**

"Truly a child of a Marauder." Sirius said.

"You should have seen the kind of stuff these three did." Victoire said pointing to the other children of marauders. Keiran, Teddy and Scarlett looked innocently at Victoire.

"We didn't do anything," they said. Victoire rolled her eyes and Keiran pulled her in for a kiss.

"Just read KJ." Victoire said. Keiran smiled and continued to read while the Marauders laughed at them.

**Ron chortled as he opened his Dream Oracle.**

**"Okay, we've got to add your age to the date you had the dream, the number of letters in the subject… would that be 'drowning' or 'cauldron' or 'Snape'?"**

"Don't you know anything about grammar?" Gwen asked. Hermione and Cris rolled their eyes.

"Ron does, he just tends to forget a lot." Cris said. Ron blushed and Keiran started reading again.

**"It's Snape, he's the subject," said Cris, chancing a glance behind her. Professor Umbridge was now standing at Professor Trelawney's shoulder making notes while the Divination teacher questioned Neville about his dream diary.**

**"What night did you dream this again?" Ron said, immersed in calculations. **

"More like pretending," Ginny said.

"That's true," Cris and Hermione said. Ron pouted again and Hermione kissed his cheek.

**"I dunno, last night, whenever you like," Cris told him, trying to listen to what Umbridge was saying to Professor Trelawney. They were only a table away from her and Ron now. Professor Umbridge was making another note on her clipboard and Professor Trelawney was looking extremely put out.**

"It kind of makes me feel sorry for her." Hermione said. Cris and Ron looked at her and she shrugged and they shook their heads.

**"Now," said Umbridge, looking up at Trelawney, "you've been in this post how long, exactly?" **

**Professor Trelawney scowled at her, arms crossed and shoulders hunched as though wishing to protect herself as much as possible from the indignity of the inspection. After a slight pause in which she seemed to decide that the question was not so offensive that she could reasonably ignore it, she said in a deeply resentful tone, "Nearly sixteen years."**

"That'll be right before Cris is born." Charlie said.

"Why do I feel like we are missing something?" Bill asked.

"Because maybe we are." Charlie said.

**"Quite a period," said Professor Umbridge, making a note on her clipboard. "So it was Professor Dumbledore who appointed you?"**

**"That's right," said Professor Trelawney shortly.**

"Could it be because of the prophecy?" Sirius whispered to Remus who shook his head.

**Professor Umbridge made another note.**

**"And you are a great-great-granddaughter of the celebrated Seer Cassandra Trelawney?" **

"Well then that'll explain the vision she had in third year." Ginny said.

**"Yes," said Professor Trelawney, holding her head a little higher.**

**Another note on the clipboard.**

**"But I think - correct me if I am mistaken - that you are the first in your family since Cassandra to be possessed of Second Sight?"**

**"These things often skip - er - three generations," said Professor Trelawney.**

"It would have sounded better if she didn't pause." Gwen said.

"Yeah," Lily J said.

**Professor Umbridge's toad like smile widened.**

**"Of course," she said sweetly, making yet another note. "Well, if you could just predict something for me, then?" And she looked up enquiringly, still smiling.**

"They don't come on command do they?" Gwen asked.

"No they don't, she should know that." Luna said.

**Professor Trelawney stiffened as though unable to believe her ears. "I don't understand you," she said, clutching convulsively at the shawl around her scrawny neck.**

**"I'd like you to make a prediction for me," said Professor Umbridge very clearly. Cris and Ron were not the only people now watching and listening sneakily from behind their books. Most of the class were staring transfixed at Professor Trelawney as she drew herself up to her full height, her beads and bangles clinking.**

**"The Inner Eye does not See upon command!" she said in scandalized tones.**

**"I see," said Professor Umbridge softly, making yet another note on her clipboard.**

**"I - but - but… wait!" said Professor Trelawney suddenly, in an attempt at her usual ethereal voice, though the mystical effect was ruined somewhat by the way it was shaking with anger.**

**"I… I think I do see something… something that concerns you… why, I sense something… something dark… some grave peril…"**

"Well that was true," Keiran said. Umbridge's eyes widened and looked over at the boy who resembled the convict.

"What happened?" Remus asked excitedly.

"You'll have to wait and find out, but I can guarantee you'll enjoy it." Teddy said. Remus looked at his son, wanting to know more about what happened. But before he could ask Keiran continued reading.

**Professor Trelawney pointed a shaking finger at Professor Umbridge who continued to smile blandly at her, eyebrows raised.**

"**I am afraid… I am afraid that you are in grave danger!" Professor Trelawney finished dramatically.**

**There was a pause. Professor Umbridge surveyed Professor Trelawney.**

"**Right," she said softly, scribbling on her clipboard once more. "Well, if that's really the best you can do…"**

"Too bad, you should really heed her warning." Victoire said with a smile.

"Come on, if you're going to say something then tell us what happened." Bill said to his daughter. Victoire just smiled at him but didn't say anything.

**She turned away, leaving Professor Trelawney standing rooted to the spot, her chest heaving.**

**Cris caught Ron's eye and knew that Ron was thinking exactly the same as she was: they both knew that Professor Trelawney was an old fraud, but on the other hand, they loathed Umbridge so much that they felt very much on Trelawney's side - until she swooped down on them a few seconds later, that is.**

**"Well?" she said, snapping her long fingers under Cris' nose, uncharacteristically brisk. "Let me see the start you've made on your dream diary, please."**

**And by the time she had interpreted Cris' dreams at the top of her voice (all of which, even the ones that involved eating porridge, apparently foretold a gruesome and early death),**

"I didn't know porridge was dangerous." Gwen said.

"Neither did I." Cris said with a smile.

**she was feeling much less sympathetic towards her. All the while, Professor Umbridge stood a few feet away, making notes on that clipboard, and when the bell rang she descended the silver ladder first and was waiting for them all when they reached their Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson ten minutes later.**

"And another boring DADA class." Prongs said.

"No kidding," the trio and Neville said.

**She was humming and smiling to herself when they entered the room. Cris and Ron told Hermione, who had been in Arithmancy, exactly what had happened in Divination while they all took out their copies of Defensive Magical Theory, but before Hermione could ask any questions Professor Umbridge had called them all to order and silence fell.**

**"Wands away" she instructed them all with a smile, and those people who had been hopeful enough to take them out, sadly returned them to their bags. **

**"As we finished Chapter One last lesson, I would like you all to turn to page nineteen today and commence 'Chapter Two, Common Defensive Theories and their Derivation'. There will be no need to talk." **

"Or think," Scarlett said.

**Still smiling her wide, self-satisfied smile, she sat down at her desk. The class gave an audible sigh as it turned, as one, to page nineteen. Cris wondered dully whether there were enough chapters in the book to keep them reading through all this year's lessons and was on the point of checking the contents page when she noticed that Hermione had her hand in the air again.**

"Why do I have a sense of déjà vu?" Charlie asked.

"Because this happened the last class." George said.

**Professor Umbridge had noticed, too, and what was more, she seemed to have worked out a strategy for just such an eventuality. Instead of trying to pretend she had not noticed Hermione she got to her feet and walked around the front row of desks until they were face to face, then she bent down and whispered, so that the rest of the class could not hear, **

"It was horrible, she was right in my face." Hermione said with a shudder.

"I know," Cris and Ron said.

**"What is it this time, Miss Granger?"**

**"I've already read Chapter Two," said Hermione.**

**"Well then, proceed to Chapter Three."**

**"I've read that too. I've read the whole book."**

"Why would you read the whole book?" Sirius asked. Hermione just shrugged as her answer.

"That's Hermione for you." Cris and Ron said.

**Professor Umbridge blinked but recovered her poise almost instantly.**

**"Well, then, you should be able to tell me what Slinkhard says about counter-jinxes in Chapter Fifteen."**

**"He says that counter-jinxes are improperly named," said Hermione promptly. "He says - 'jinx' is just a name people give their jinxes when they want to make them sound more acceptable."**

**Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows and Cris knew she was impressed, against her will.**

**"But I disagree," Hermione continued.**

"Hermione, shut up!" Sirius yelled.

"I know," Hermione said blushing.

**Professor Umbridge's eyebrows rose a little higher and her gaze became distinctly colder.**

**"You disagree?" she repeated.**

"You know you'd do pretty well as a communist." Gwen said under her breath.

**"Yes, I do," said Hermione, who, unlike Umbridge, was not whispering, but speaking in a clear, carrying voice that had by now attracted the attention of the rest of the class. "Mr. Slinkhard doesn't like jinxes, does he? But, I think they can be very useful when they're used defensively."**

**"Oh, you do, do you?" said Professor Umbridge, forgetting to whisper and straightening up. "Well, I'm afraid it is Mr. Slinkhard's opinion, and not yours, that matters within this classroom, Miss Granger."**

"Shouldn't be the teacher's opinion?" Gwen asked.

"Yes, and the book a guideline." McGonagall said.

**"But -" Hermione began.**

**"That is enough," said Professor Umbridge. She walked back to the front of the class and stood before them, all the jauntiness she had shown at the beginning of the lesson gone. "Miss Granger, I am going to take five points from Gryffindor house."**

**There was an outbreak of muttering at this.**

**"What for?" said Cris angrily.**

**"Don't you get involved!" Hermione whispered urgently to her.**

**"For disrupting my class with pointless interruptions," said Professor Umbridge smoothly. **

"I think the class is useful but under the current teacher it's pointless." Bill said.

"That's very true." Kit said.

**"I am here to teach you using a Ministry-approved method that does not include inviting students to give their opinions**

"But shouldn't we have our own opinions?" Al asked.

"You should, a good discussion about differing opinions is good learning experience to see both sides of the conversation." Remus said.

**on matters about which they understand very little. Your previous teachers in this subject may have allowed you more license, but as none of them - with the possible exception of Professor Quirrell, who did at least appear to have restricted himself to age appropriate subjects - would have passed a Ministry inspection -"**

**"Yeah, Quirrell was a great teacher," said Cris loudly, "there was just that minor drawback of him having Lord Voldemort sticking out of the back of his head."**

"Yeah, that part was true." Hermione said.

"Really?" Fudge asked.

"Where's the first book?" Cris asked. Remus looked behind him pulled out the first book and flipped to the last chapter.

"It's the last chapter of the first book, you may read it if you want." Remus said. Fudge took it from his hands.

"We will read it after this chapter." Fudge said.

**This pronouncement was followed by one of the loudest silences Cris had ever heard. Then - "I think another week's detentions would do you some good, Miss Potter," said Umbridge sleekly.**

**The cut on the back of Cris' hand had barely healed and, by the following morning, it was bleeding again. She did not complain during the evening's detention; she was determined not to give Umbridge the satisfaction; over and over again she wrote **_**I must not tell lies**_** and not a sound escaped her lips, though the cut deepened with every letter.**

A number of things happened at once. Umbridge's hair was gone, her clothes turned an ugly shade of yellow and her face turned purple. Umbridge shrieked and this just caused many people to burst out laughing.

**The very worst part of this second weeks' worth of detentions was, just as George had predicted, Angelina's reaction. She cornered her just as she arrived at the Gryffindor table for breakfast on Tuesday and shouted so loudly that Professor McGonagall came sweeping down upon the pair of them from the staff table.**

**"Miss Johnson, how dare you make such a racket in the Great Hall! Five points from Gryffindor!"**

**"But Professor - she's gone and landed herself in detention again -"**

**"What's this, Potter?" said Professor McGonagall sharply, rounding on Cris. "Detention? From whom?"**

**"From Professor Umbridge," muttered Cris, not meeting Professor McGonagall's beady, square-framed eyes.**

**"Are you telling me," she said, lowering her voice so that the group of curious Ravenclaws behind them could not hear, "that after the warning I gave you last Monday you lost your temper in Professor Umbridge's class again?"**

**"Yes," Cris muttered, speaking to the floor.**

**"Potter, you must get a grip on yourself! You are heading for serious trouble! Another five points from Gryffindor!"**

"But last time you gave her a biscuit." Prongs said.

"But last time dad I also had a warning." Cris said.

"Oh yeah," Prongs said.

**"But - what -? Professor, no!" Cris said, furious at this injustice, "I'm already being punished by her, why do you have to take points as well?"**

**"Because detentions do not appear to have any effect on you whatsoever!" said Professor McGonagall tartly. "No, not another word of complaint, Potter! And as for you, Miss Johnson, you will confine your shouting matches to the Quidditch pitch in future or risk losing the team captaincy!"**

"You wouldn't do that would you?" Padfoot asked.

"I've been tempted many times." McGonagall said.

**Professor McGonagall strode back towards the staff table. Angelina gave Cris a look of deepest disgust and stalked away, upon which she flung herself on to the bench beside Ron, fuming.**

**"She's taken points off Gryffindor because I'm having my hand sliced open every night! How is that fair, how?"**

"If I had known that was going on I wouldn't have done it in the first place." McGonagall said.

"Don't worry Professor; you would have known if Cris wasn't so stubborn." Hermione said.

"Sadly, she comes by that naturally." Sirius said. Lily and Prongs blushed as Keiran continued.

**"I know, mate," said Ron sympathetically, tipping bacon on to Cri's plate, "she's bang out of order."**

**Hermione, however, merely rustled the pages of her Daily Prophet and said nothing.**

**"You think McGonagall was right, do you?" said Cris angrily to the picture of Cornelius Fudge obscuring Hermione's face.**

**"I wish she hadn't taken points from you, but I think she's right to warn you not to lose your temper with Umbridge," said Hermione's voice, while Fudge gesticulated forcefully from the front page, clearly giving some kind of speech.**

"It must not have been very good if it's not mentioned." Moony said.

**Cris did not speak to Hermione all through Charms, but when they entered Transfiguration she forgot about being cross with her. Professor Umbridge and her clipboard were sitting in a corner and the sight of her drove the memory of breakfast right out of her head.**

**"Excellent," whispered Ron, as they sat down in their usual seats. "Let's see Umbridge get what she deserves."**

"This is going to be fun." Prongs said rubbing his hands together in glee.

**Professor McGonagall marched into the room without giving the slightest indication that she knew Professor Umbridge was there.**

**"That will do," she said and silence fell immediately. "Mr. Finnigan, kindly come here and hand back the homework - Miss Brown, please take this box of mice - don't be silly, girl, they won't hurt you - and hand one to each student -"**

"I bet Umbridge hated being ignored." Charlie said.

"She did." Neville said with a laugh.

**"Hem, hem," said Professor Umbridge, employing the same silly little cough she had used to interrupt Dumbledore on the first night of term. Professor McGonagall ignored her. Seamus handed back Cris' essay; Cris took it without looking at him and saw, to her relief, that she had managed an E. **

"Good job pup," Sirius said with a smile.

"She does have her father's talent." McGonagall said with a smile. Cris smiled brightly and Prongs jumped up and went over and hugged his daughter. As soon as he was back in his seat Keiran started reading again.

**"Right then, everyone, listen closely - Dean Thomas, if you do that to the mouse again I shall put you in detention -**

"What did he do?" Padfoot asked.

"Well he changed the color then he kind of sent it flying." Cris said.

"How did he do that?" Prongs asked.

"I honestly have no idea." Hermione said.

**most of you have now successfully Vanished your snails and even those who were left with a certain amount of shell have got the gist of the spell. Today, we shall be -"**

**"Hem, hem," said Professor Umbridge.**

"This isn't going to be good for Umbitch." Charlie said. Mrs. Weasley looked like she wanted to scold him but didn't because the toad also tortured her children as well.

**"Yes?" said Professor McGonagall, turning round, her eyebrows so close together they seemed to form one long, severe line.**

**"I was just wondering, Professor, whether you received my note telling you of the date and time of your inspec—"**

**"Obviously I received it, or I would have asked you what you are doing in my classroom," said Professor McGonagall, turning her back firmly on Professor Umbridge. **

"Yes," the pranksters said high-fiving each other.

**Many of the students exchanged looks of glee. "As I was saying: today, we shall be practicing the altogether more difficult Vanishment of mice. Now, the Vanishing Spell -"**

**"Hem, hem."**

**"I wonder," said Professor McGonagall in cold fury, turning on Professor Umbridge, "how you expect to gain an idea of my usual teaching methods if you continue to interrupt me? You see, I do not generally permit people to talk when I am talking."**

"Nice comeback Minnie," Prongs said with a big smile.

"How many times have I told you to not call me that?" McGonagall asked.

"I've lost count." Prongs said.

**Professor Umbridge looked as though she had just been slapped in the face. She did not speak, but straightened the parchment on her clipboard and began scribbling furiously.**

**Looking supremely unconcerned, Professor McGonagall addressed the class once more.**

"**As I was saying: the Vanishing Spell becomes more difficult with the complexity of the animal to be Vanished. The snail, as an invertebrate, does not present much of a challenge; the mouse, as a mammal, offers a much greater one. This is not, therefore, magic you can accomplish with your mind on your dinner. So - you know the incantation; let me see what you can do…"**

"**How she can lecture me about not losing my temper with Umbridge!" Cris muttered to Ron under her breath, but she was grinning - her anger with Professor McGonagall had quite evaporated.**

"Technically I wasn't yelling." McGonagall said. Cris smiled at her and McGonagall gave her a small smile back.

**Professor Umbridge did not follow Professor McGonagall around the class as she had followed Professor Trelawney; perhaps she realized Professor McGonagall would not permit it. She did, however, take many more notes while sitting in her corner, and when Professor McGonagall finally told them all to pack away, she rose with a grim expression on her face.**

**"Well, it's a start," said Ron, holding up a long wriggling mouse-tail and dropping it back into the box Lavender was passing around. **

"It's better than what I did." Bill said.

"What did you have left?" Ron asked.

"The body." Bill said.

**As they filed out of the classroom, Cris saw Professor Umbridge approach the teacher's desk; she nudged Ron, who nudged Hermione in turn, and the three of them deliberately fell back to eavesdrop.**

**"How long have you been teaching at Hogwarts?" Professor Umbridge asked.**

**"Thirty-nine years this December," said Professor McGonagall brusquely, snapping her bag shut.**

"That is a long time." Keiran said.

"Am I still there?" McGonagall asked.

"You are the headmaster." Teddy said with a smile as McGonagall groaned, she'd have to deal with more pranksters.

**Professor Umbridge made a note.**

**"Very well," she said, "you will receive the results of your inspection in ten days' time."**

**"I can hardly wait," said Professor McGonagall, in a coldly indifferent voice, and she strode off towards the door. "Hurry up, you three," she added, sweeping Cris, Ron and Hermione before her.**

**Cris could not help giving her a faint smile and could have sworn she received one in return. **

"You did," McGonagall said.

**She had thought that the next time she would see Umbridge would be in her detention that evening, but she was wrong. When they walked down the lawns towards the Forest for Care of Magical Creatures, they found her and her clipboard waiting for them beside Professor Grubbly-Plank.**

"Are you stalking her now?" Lily asked.

"Wouldn't surprise me." Kit said.

**"You do not usually take this class, is that correct?" Cris heard her ask as they arrived at the trestle table where the group of captive Bowtruckles were scrambling around for woodlice like so many living twigs.**

**"Quite correct," said Professor Grubbly-Plank, hands behind her back and bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I am a substitute teacher standing in for Professor Hagrid."**

**Cris exchanged uneasy looks with Ron and Hermione. Malfoy was whispering with Crabbe and Goyle; he would surely love this opportunity to tell tales on Hagrid to a member of the Ministry.**

Draco blushed but turned to Cris. "I understand why you like him so much now, and I am sorry for what I've said about him."

"It's alright; you're one of us now." Cris said meaning towards the D.A.

**"Hmm," said Professor Umbridge, dropping her voice, though Cris could still hear her quite clearly. "I wonder - the Headmaster seems strangely reluctant to give me any information on the matter - can you tell me what is causing Professor Hagrid's very extended leave of absence?"**

**Cris saw Malfoy look up eagerly and watch Umbridge and Grubbly-Plank closely.**

**"Fraid I can't," said Professor Grubbly-Plank breezily. "Don't know anything more about it than you do. Got an owl from Dumbledore, would I like a couple of weeks' teaching work. I accepted. That's as much as I know. Well… shall I get started then?"**

"Well that's good, but I hope he's alright." Lily said.

"He'll be fine, he's tough." Prongs said.

**"Yes, please do," said Professor Umbridge, scribbling on her clipboard.**

**Umbridge took a different tack in this class and wandered amongst the students, questioning them on magical creatures. Most people were able to answer well and Cris' spirits lifted somewhat; at least the class was not letting Hagrid down.**

"That's good," Charlie and the marauders said.

**"Overall," said Professor Umbridge, returning to Professor Grubbly-Plank's side after a lengthy interrogation of Dean Thomas, "how do you, as a temporary member of staff- an objective outsider, I suppose you might say — how do you find Hogwarts? Do you feel you receive enough support from the school management?"**

**"Oh, yes, Dumbledore's excellent," said Professor Grubbly-Plank heartily. "Yes, I'm very happy with the way things are run, very happy indeed."**

"She won't like that at all." Teddy smiled.

"No she wouldn't," Remus said with a laugh.

**Looking politely incredulous, Umbridge made a tiny note on her clipboard and went on, **

"There's more?" George asked.

"There's always more." Cris said.

**"And what are you planning to cover with this class this year - assuming, of course, that Professor Hagrid does not return?"**

**"Oh, I'll take them through the creatures that most often come up in OWL," said Professor Grubbly-Plank. "Not much left to do - they've studied unicorns and Nifflers, I thought we'd cover Porlocks and Kneazles, make sure they can recognize Crups and Knarls, you know…"**

"The usual stuff on the OWL's then, nothing wrong with that." Bill said.

**"Well, you seem to know what you're doing, at any rate," said Professor Umbridge, making a very obvious tick on her clipboard. Cris did not like the emphasis she put on 'you' and liked it even less when she put her next question to Goyle. "Now, I hear there have been injuries in this class?"**

"Great," moaned the room.

**Goyle gave a stupid grin. Malfoy hastened to answer the question.**

**"That was me," he said. "I was slashed by a Hippogriff."**

"Because I didn't listen to what Hagrid said." Draco said.

"So that was really your fault?" Amelia asked.

"Yes," Draco said.

**"A Hippogriff?" said Professor Umbridge, now scribbling frantically.**

**"Only because he was too stupid to listen to what Hagrid told him to do," said Cris angrily.**

**Both Ron and Hermione groaned. Professor Umbridge turned her head slowly in Cris' direction.**

**"Another night's detention, I think," she said softly.**

"You can't give detention in someone else's class, that is the job of their current teacher." McGonagall said glaring at the toad for the things she is doing to her lions.

**"Well, thank you very much, Professor Grubbly-Plank, I think that's all I need here. You will be receiving the results of your inspection within ten days."**

**"Jolly good," said Professor Grubbly-Plank, and Professor Umbridge set off back across the lawn to the castle.**

**It was nearly midnight when Cris left Umbridge's office that night, her hand now bleeding so severely that it was staining the scarf she had wrapped around it.**

Fred and George wrapped themselves around her and held her tight as growls and glares were turned towards the toad.

**She expected the common room to be empty when she returned, but Ron and Hermione had sat up waiting for her. She was pleased to see them, especially as Hermione was disposed to be sympathetic rather than critical.**

**"Here," she said anxiously, pushing a small bowl of yellow liquid towards her, "soak your hand in that, it's a solution of strained and pickled Murtlap tentacles, it should help."**

"Thank Merlin for Hermione." Lily said.

**Cris placed her bleeding, aching hand into the bowl and experienced a wonderful feeling of relief. Crookshanks curled around her legs, purring loudly, then leapt into her lap and settled down.**

**"Thanks," she said gratefully, scratching behind Crookshanks's ears with her left hand.**

**"I still reckon you should complain about this," said Ron in a low voice. **

"She won't," the future group said.

"We know," the current students said.

"We wish she would though." Sirius said.

**"No," said Cris flatly.**

**"McGonagall would go nuts if she knew —"**

**"Yeah, she probably would," said Cris dully. "And how long do you reckon it'd take Umbridge to pass another decree saying anyone who complains about the High Inquisitor gets sacked immediately?"**

"That can't happen can it?" Kit asked.

"There's no decree about it, and there won't be." Amelia said glaring at the Minister, at the rate this is going he is going to be sacked.

**Ron opened his mouth to retort but nothing came out and, after a moment, he closed it again, defeated.**

**"She's an awful woman," said Hermione in a small voice. "Awful. You know, I was just saying to Ron when you came in… we've got to do something about her."**

**"I suggested poison," said Ron grimly.**

"Ron!" screeched Mrs. Weasley. Ron blushed and looked down.

**"No… I mean, something about what a dreadful teacher she is, and how we're not going to learn any Defense from her at all," said Hermione.**

**"Well, what can we do about that?" said Ron, yawning. "It's too late, isn't it? She's got the job, she's here to stay. Fudge'll make sure of that."**

**"Well," said Hermione tentatively. "You know, I was thinking today…" she shot a slightly nervous look at Cris and then plunged on, "I was thinking that - maybe the time's come when we should just - just do it ourselves."**

"Are you doing what I think you're doing?" Charlie asked.

"I think she's doing what you think she's doing." Bill said.

**"Do what ourselves?" said Cris suspiciously, still floating her hand in the essence of Murtlap tentacles.**

**"Well - learn Defense Against the Dark Arts ourselves," said Hermione.**

"It's a good idea since you aren't doing it yourselves, it's a study group." Amelia said.

"It is a study group." The members of the D.A. said.

"And we don't have a planned meeting time; just when we're all free to get together." Cris said with a smirk towards Umbridge.

**"Come off it," groaned Ron. "You want us to do extra work? D'you realize Cris and I are behind on homework again and it's only the second week?"**

**"But this is much more important than homework!" said Hermione.**

"Hermione, are you feeling alright?" Fred asked.

"This isn't like you." George said.

"Of course I'm feeling alright." Hermione said.

**Cris and Ron goggled at her.**

**"I didn't think there was anything in the universe more important than homework!" said Ron.**

"**Who are you and what have you done with Hermione?" Cris asked eyeing her wearily. **

"Good question." Prongs said with a smile.

"It was kind of shocking." Cris said. "She was completely out of character."

**"Don't be silly, of course there is," said Hermione, and Cris saw, with an ominous feeling, that her face was suddenly alight with the kind of fervor that SPEW usually inspired in her. "It's about preparing ourselves, like Cris said in Umbridge's first lesson, for what's waiting for us out there. It's about making sure we really can defend ourselves. If we don't learn anything for a whole year -"**

"That would be really bad." Lily said.

"Imagine them not knowing anything when they went to the Ministry." Lily J whispered to Teddy. Teddy stopped and looked at her.

"That would have been really bad." Teddy whispered back.

**"We can't do much by ourselves," said Ron in a defeated voice. "I mean, all right, we can go and look jinxes up in the library and try and practice them, I suppose -"**

**"No, I agree, we've gone past the stage where we can just learn things out of books"' said Hermione. "We need a teacher, a proper one, who can show us how to use the spells and correct us if we're going wrong."**

"I have a feeling I know who you are going to ask." Moony said.

"Me too," Kit said.

"Who?" Prongs and Padfoot asked.

"You'll see." Moony and Kit said.

**"If you're talking about Remus…" Cris began.**

"I'm honored but I'm not going to be able too." Remus said.

"We know," the trio said.

**"No, no, I'm not talking about Remus," said Hermione. "He's too busy with the Order and, anyway, the most we could see him is during Hogsmeade weekends and that's not nearly often enough."**

**"Who, then?" said Cris, frowning at her.**

**Hermione heaved a very deep sigh.**

**"Isn't it obvious?" she said. "I'm talking about you, Cris."**

"You would make an excellent teacher." McGonagall said.

"I can see it." Lily said.

**There was a moment's silence. A light night breeze rattled the windowpanes behind Ron, and the fire guttered.**

**"About me what?" said Cris.**

**"I'm talking about you teaching us Defense Against the Dark Arts."**

**Cris stared at her. Then she turned to Ron, ready to exchange the exasperated looks they sometimes shared when Hermione elaborated on far-fetched schemes like SPEW to Cris' consternation, however, Ron did not look exasperated.**

"I thought it was a good idea." Ron said.

"It is," Robin said.

**He was frowning slightly, apparently thinking. Then he said, "That's an idea."**

**"What's an idea?" said Cris.**

**"You," said Ron. "Teaching us to do it."**

**"But…"**

**Cris was grinning now, sure the pair of them were pulling her leg.**

**"But I'm not a teacher, I can't -"**

"Sure you can, you knew stuff I never knew at your age." Charlie said.

**"Cris, you're the best in the year at Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Hermione.**

**"Me?" said Cris, now grinning more broadly than ever. "No I'm not, you've beaten me in almost every test -"**

**"Actually, I haven't," said Hermione coolly. "You beat me in our third year -**

"That's true," Remus said with a smile.

**the only year we both sat the test and had a teacher who actually knew the subject. But I'm not talking about test results, Cris. Think what you've done!"**

**"How d'you mean?"**

**"You know what, I'm not sure I want someone this stupid teaching me," Ron said to Hermione, smirking slightly. He turned to Cris.**

**"Let's think," he said, pulling a face like Goyle concentrating.**

"Oi!"

**"Uh… first year - you saved the Philosopher's Stone from You-Know-Who."**

**"But that was luck," said Cris, "it wasn't skill."**

**"Second year," Ron interrupted, "you killed the Basilisk and destroyed Riddle."**

**"Yeah, but if Fawkes hadn't turned up, I -"**

**"Third year," said Ron, louder still, "you fought off about a hundred Dementors at once -"**

**"You know that was a fluke, if the Time-Turner hadn't -"**

**"Last year," Ron said, almost shouting now, "you fought off You-Know-Who again-"**

**"Listen to me!" said Cris, almost angrily, because Ron and Hermione were both smirking now.**

**"Just listen to me, all right? It sounds great when you say it like that, but all that stuff was luck - I didn't know what I was doing half the time, I didn't plan any of it, I just did whatever I could think of, and I nearly always had help -"**

"Well you did have help yes, but you did it by yourself." Sirius said. "Though I wish you didn't have too."

"It was just luck." Cris said.

**Ron and Hermione were still smirking and Cris felt her temper rise; she wasn't even sure why she was feeling so angry.**

**"Don't sit there grinning like you know better than I do, I was there, wasn't I?" she said heatedly. "I know what went on, all right? And I didn't get through any of that because I was brilliant at Defense Against the Dark Arts, I got through it all because - because help came at the right time, or because I guessed right - but I just blundered through it all, I didn't have a clue what I was doing - STOP LAUGHING!"**

**The bowl of Murtlap essence fell to the floor and smashed. She became aware that she was on her feet, though she couldn't remember standing up. Crookshanks streaked away under a sofa. Ron and Hermione's smiles had vanished.**

**"You don't know what it's like! You - neither of you - you've never had to face him, have you? You think it's just memorizing a bunch of spells and throwing them at him, like you're in class or something? The whole time you're sure you know there's nothing between you and dying except your own - your own brain or guts or whatever - like you can think straight when you know you're about a second from being murdered, or tortured, or watching your friends die - **

People winced at that, it was true on many levels.

**they've never taught us that in their classes, what it's like to deal with things like that - and you two sit there acting like I'm a clever little girl to be standing here, alive, like Diggory was stupid, like he messed up — you just don't get it, that could just as easily have been me, it would have been if Voldemort hadn't needed me -"**

"Please don't say that, I don't want to think about you dead." Sirius said.

**"We weren't saying anything like that, mate," said Ron, looking aghast. "We weren't having a go at Diggory, we didn't - you've got the wrong end of the -"**

**He looked helplessly at Hermione, whose face was stricken.**

**"Cris," she said timidly, "don't you see? This… this is exactly why we need you… we need to know what it's r-really like… facing him… facing V-Voldemort."**

"So that's the first for you to say it." Robin said.

**It was the first time she had ever said Voldemort's name and it was this, more than anything else, that calmed Cris. **

"Of course that would calm you down." Hermione said rolling her eyes.

**Still breathing hard, she sank back into her chair, becoming aware as she did so that her hand was throbbing horribly again. She wished she had not smashed the bowl of Murtlap essence.**

**"Well… think about it," said Hermione quietly. "Please?"**

**Cris could not think of anything to say. She was feeling ashamed of her outburst already. She nodded, hardly aware of what she was agreeing to. Hermione stood up.**

**"Well, I'm off to bed," she said, in a voice that was clearly as natural as she could make it.**

**"Erm… night."**

**Ron had gotten to his feet, too.**

**"Coming?" he said awkwardly to Cris.**

**"Yeah," said Cris. "In… in a minute. I'll just clear this up."**

**She indicated the smashed bowl on the floor. Ron nodded and left.**

**"Reparo," Cris muttered, pointing her wand at the broken pieces of china. They flew back together, good as new, but there was no returning the Murtlap essence to the bowl. **

"There really should be a spell for that." Tonks said.

"I don't think there is one." Dumbledore said.

**She was suddenly so tired she was tempted to sink back into her armchair and sleep there, but instead she forced herself to her feet and followed Ron upstairs. Her restless night was punctuated once more by dreams of long corridors and locked doors and she awoke next day with her scar prickling again.**

"How long do you have these dreams?" Lily asked.

"Long enough, I still have them." Cris said.

"And you don't know what they mean?" Prongs asked

"Not a clue," Cris said.

"Well that's the chapter." Keiran said. He handed it to Sirius and he started the next chapter.


	17. Chapter 16: In the Hog's Head

"**Chapter 16: In the Hog's Head," **Sirius read with a smile.

"Is this where?" Remus asked.

"Yeah," the trio said.

"Where what?" the past marauders asked.

"You'll find out." The trio said with a smile.

**Hermione made no mention of Cris giving Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons for two whole weeks after her original suggestion. **

**Cris' detentions with Umbridge were finally over (she doubted whether the words now etched into the back of her hand would ever fade entirely); **

"They don't," Keiran said.

"Great," Cris said.

**Ron had had four more Quidditch practices and not been shouted at during the last two; **

"Well that's good." Bill said.

**and all three of them had managed to Vanish their mice in Transfiguration (Hermione and Cris had actually progressed to Vanishing kittens),**

"What happens to them?" Gwen asked.

"Nothing bad, they are just invisible, I bring them back after class." McGonagall said.

"That's good." Gwen said.

**before the subject was broached again, on a wild, blustery evening at the end of September, when the three of them were sitting in the library, looking up potion ingredients for Snape.**

**"I was wondering," Hermione said suddenly, "whether you'd thought any more about Defense Against the Dark Arts, Cris." **

"Well she certainly can't forget it with the toad teaching it, can she?" Sirius said.

**"****Course I have," said Cris grumpily, "can't forget it, can we, with that hag teaching us -"**

"Great, Sirius is rubbing off on our daughter." Lily said. Sirius and Cris were smiling at each other before he continued reading.

**"****I meant the idea Ron and I had -" Ron cast her an alarmed, threatening kind of look. She frowned at him, "- Oh, all right, the idea I had then - about you teaching us."**

**Cris did not answer at once. She pretended to be perusing a page of Asiatic Anti-Venoms, because she did not want to say what was in her mind.**

**She had given the matter a great deal of thought over the past fortnight. Sometimes it seemed an insane idea, just as it had on the night Hermione had proposed it, but at others, she had found herself thinking about the spells that had served her best in her various encounters with Dark creatures and Death Eaters - found herself, in fact, subconsciously planning lessons…**

"That is the sign that you would be a great teacher." McGonagall said with a smile.

"Mum was thinking about it once Robin retired." Lily J said. Cris smiled she really hadn't given it much thought but it did seem like a good idea once she done with being an Auror, or got too old for it.

**"****Well," she said slowly, when she could no longer pretend to find Asiatic Anti-Venoms interesting, "yeah, I - I've thought about it a bit."**

"A bit?" Hermione asked.

"I know," Cris said blushing.

**"****And?" said Hermione eagerly.**

**"****I dunno," said Cris, playing for time. She looked up at Ron.**

**"****I thought it was a good idea from the start," said Ron, who seemed keener to join in this conversation now that he was sure Cris was not going to start shouting again.**

"You're scary when you shout." Ron said.

"Just like her mother." Prongs said fondly. Lily slapped him for it.

**Cris shifted uncomfortably in her chair.**

**"****You did listen to what I said about a load of it being luck, didn't you?"**

"They did, but I don't think they care." Sirius said with a smile.

"We don't," Ron and Hermione said.

**"Yes, Cris," said Hermione gently, "but all the same, there's no point pretending that you're not good at Defense Against the Dark Arts, because you are. You were the only person last year who could throw off the Imperius Curse completely, you can produce a Patronus, you can do all sorts of stuff that full-grown wizards can't, Viktor always said -"**

**Ron looked round at her so fast he appeared to crick his neck. Rubbing it, he said, "Yeah? What did Vicky say?"**

Viktor raised an eyebrow at him. "She has never called me that." Ron blushed brightly at that as Sirius continued reading with a smile on his face.

**"****Ho ho," said Hermione in a bored voice. "He said Cris knew how to do stuff even he didn't, and he was in the final year at Durmstrang."**

**Ron was looking at Hermione suspiciously.**

**"****You're not still in contact with him, are you?"**

"There is the crush again." Bill said with a smile. Hermione and Ron blushed at that.

"It was obvious in first year." Cris said.

"Was it really?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," said Cris, the twins and Neville.

**"****So what if I am" said Hermione coolly, though her face was a little pink. "I can have a pen-pal if I -"**

**"****He didn't only want to be your pen-pal," said Ron accusingly.**

"I liked talking to her. I vas nice to talk to someone who didn't see me as some quidditch player." Viktor said.

"I don't see you like that, you seem like a normal guy to me." Gwen said. Viktor looked at her and smiled and kissed her head.

"Thank you Gwen," Viktor said.

**Hermione shook her head exasperatedly and, ignoring Ron, who was continuing to watch her, said to Cris, "Well, what do you think? Will you teach us?"**

**"****Just you and Ron, yeah?"**

"I don't think it'll be just them sweetheart." Lily said. The group missed the smirks on the member's D.A.'s faces.

**"****Well," said Hermione, looking a mite anxious again. "Well… now, don't fly off the handle again, Cris, please… but I really think you ought to teach anyone who wants to learn. I mean, we're talking about defending ourselves against V-Voldemort. Oh, don't be pathetic, Ron.**

"When does he start to say it?" Bill asked. Ron looked over at the future kids curious himself.

"In a few years." Keiran said.

"Well, that's something." Ron said.

**It doesn't seem fair if we don't offer the chance to other people."**

**Cris considered this for a moment, then said, "Yeah, but I doubt anyone except you two would want to be taught by me. I'm a nutter, remember?"**

"Ah, but not everyone thinks that." Neville said with a smile.

"I was actually surprised by how many showed up." Cris said.

"How many did show up?" Lily asked.

"A few," the trio said.

**"****Well, I think you might be surprised how many people would be interested in hearing what you've got to say" said Hermione seriously. "Look," she leaned towards her - Ron, who was still watching her with a frown on his face, leaned forwards to listen too - "you know the first weekend in October's a Hogsmeade weekend? How would it be if we tell anyone who's interested to meet us in the village and we can talk it over?"**

**"****Why do we have to do it outside school?" said Ron.**

"Because of the evil Ministry spy who is against actually helping us." Ginny said.

"I know that now." Ron said.

**"****Because," said Hermione, returning to the diagram of the Chinese Chomping Cabbage she was copying, "I don't think Umbridge would be very happy if she found out what we were up to."**

"It's against the rules!" Umbridge screeched.

"Actually it isn't, it's just a study group, and we meet when we can. Seeing as we have Quidditch players from each house." Hermione said with a smirk.

"Don't you just love loopholes?" Sirius asked with a smile.

**Cris had been looking forward to the weekend trip into Hogsmeade, but there was one thing worrying her. Sirius had maintained a stony silence since he had appeared in the fire at the beginning of September; Cris knew they had made him angry by saying they didn't want him to come - but she still worried from time to time that Sirius might throw caution to the winds and turn up anyway. What were they going to do if the great black dog came bounding up the street towards them in Hogsmeade, perhaps under the nose of Draco Malfoy?**

"I was contemplating it, but Robin said she'd curse me if I went." Sirius said.

"Thanks Robin," Cris said with a smile.

"You're welcome pup; I figured you didn't want him to get caught again." Robin said kissing Sirius' cheek.

**"****Well, you can't blame him for wanting to get out and about," said Ron, when Cris discussed her fears with him and Hermione. "I mean, he's been on the run for over two years, hasn't he, and I know that can't have been a laugh, but at least he was free, wasn't he? And now he's just shut up all the time with that ghastly elf."**

**Hermione scowled at Ron, but otherwise ignored the slight on Kreacher.**

**"****The trouble is," she said to Cris, "until V-Voldemort - oh, for heaven's sake, Ron - comes out into the open, Sirius is going to have to stay hidden, isn't he? I mean, the stupid Ministry isn't going to realize Sirius is innocent until they accept that Dumbledore's been telling the truth about him all along. And once the fools start catching real Death Eaters again, it'll be obvious Sirius isn't one… I mean, he hasn't got the Mark, for one thing." **

Sirius rolled up his sleeves and there was no dark mark anywhere on his arms. Amelia nodded; they really should have checked that before throwing him into Azkaban without a trial.

**"****I don't reckon he'd be stupid enough to turn up," said Ron bracingly. "Dumbledore'd go mad if he did and Sirius listens to Dumbledore even if he doesn't like what he hears." **

"I know he means well, and has everyone's best interests at heart but that doesn't mean I have to like it." Sirius said curtly.

"I know that Sirius," Dumbledore said.

**When Cris continued to look worried, Hermione said, "Listen, Ron and I have been sounding out people who we thought might want to learn some proper Defense Against the Dark Arts, and there are a couple who seem interested. We've told them to meet us in Hogsmeade."**

**"****Right," said Cris vaguely, her mind still on Sirius.**

**"****Don't worry, Cris" Hermione said quietly. "You've got enough on your plate without Sirius, too."**

"I can take care of myself." Sirius said.

"That doesn't mean I'm not allowed to worry." Cris said.

"I know pup, I wish you didn't have to worry about me." Sirius said sadly.

**She was quite right; of course, she was barely keeping up with her homework, though she was doing much better now that she was no longer spending every evening in detention with Umbridge. Ron was even further behind with his work than Cris, because while they both had Quidditch practice twice a week, Ron also had his prefect duties. However, Hermione, who was taking more subjects than either of them, had not only finished all her homework but was also finding time to knit more elf clothes. Cris had to admit that she was getting better; it was now almost always possible to distinguish between the hats and the socks. **

Hermione turned to glare at Cris who smiled sheepishly at her. Cris was very grateful that they didn't have any wands or she would've gotten hexed.

**The morning of the Hogsmeade visit dawned bright but windy. After breakfast they queued up in front of Filch, who matched their names to the long list of students who had permission from their parents or guardian to visit the village. With a slight pang, Cris remembered that if it hadn't been for Sirius, she would not have been going at all.**

"Thanks for that, Pads." Prongs said.

"Just doing my duty." Sirius said.

"She shouldn't be going!" Umbridge screeched.

"Sorry Madame, but Black is her guardian so she can go if he signed the slip." Amelia said. Umbridge sat back with a huff while Cris and Sirius smirked at her displeasure.

**When Cris reached Filch, the caretaker gave a great sniff as though trying to detect a whiff of something from Cris. Then he gave a curt nod that set his jowls aquiver again and Cris walked on, out on to the stone steps and the cold, sunlit day.**

**"Er - why was Filch sniffing you?" asked Ron, as he, Cris and Hermione set off at a brisk pace down the wide drive to the gates.**

**"****I suppose he was checking for the smell of Dungbombs," said Cris with a small laugh. "I forgot to tell you…"**

**And she recounted the story of sending her letter to Sirius and Filch bursting in seconds later, demanding to see the letter. To her slight surprise, Hermione found this story highly interesting, much more, indeed, than she did herself.**

"Well yeah, she's thinking who could have told him that." Lily said.

"I have a feeling I know who." Remus said.

"I think I know who it is as well." Bill said glaring at the toad.

**"****He said he was tipped off you were ordering Dungbombs? But who tipped him off?"**

**"****I dunno," said Cris, shrugging. "Maybe Malfoy, he'd think it was a laugh." **

"I didn't do that," Draco said.

"It was Umbridge, wasn't?" Luna asked.

"We think so." The trio said.

**They walked between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars and turned left on to the road into the village, the wind whipping their hair into their eyes.**

**"****Malfoy?" said Hermione, skeptically. "Well… yes… maybe…"**

"No," he said.

"We know," the group said.

**And she remained deep in thought all the way into the outskirts of Hogsmeade.**

**"****Where are we going, anyway?" Cris asked. "The Three Broomsticks?"**

**"****Oh - no," said Hermione, coming out of her reverie, "no, it's always packed and really noisy. I've told the others to meet us in the Hog's Head, that other pub, you know the one, it's not on the main road. I think it's a bit… you know… dodgy… but students don't normally go in there, so I don't think we'll be overheard."**

"Hermione, if you didn't want anyone to overhear you should have gone to the Three Broomsticks." Prongs said shaking his head.

"We know that now." Hermione said.

"I could have told you that." Cris said.

"Why didn't you tell me then?" she asked.

"It was too late to change then." Cris said.

**Cris thought that wouldn't be the best idea, but it was too late to change. The meeting would be taking place soon. **

**They walked down the main street past Zonko's Wizarding Joke Shop, where they were not surprised to see Fred, George and Lee Jordan, **

"The three musketeers." Gwen said.

"What?" the twins asked.

"It's a story, I'll tell it to you sometime." Cris said.

"Okay," they said.

**past the post office, from which owls issued at regular intervals, and turned up a side-street at the top of which stood a small inn. A battered wooden sign hung from a rusty bracket over the door, with a picture on it of a wild boar's severed head, leaking blood on to the white cloth around it. The sign creaked in the wind as they approached. All three of them hesitated outside the door.**

**"****Well, come on," said Hermione, slightly nervously. Cris led the way inside.**

**It was not at all like the Three Broomsticks, whose large bar gave an impression of gleaming warmth and cleanliness. The Hog's Head bar comprised one small, dingy and very dirty room that smelled strongly of something that might have been goats. **

"Well that's Aberforth for you." Sirius said.

"Who's Aberforth?" the kids asked.

"My brother, he is also the bartender there." Dumbledore said.

"I didn't know you have a brother." Bill said.

"You learn something new every day." Dumbledore said with a smile.

**The bay windows were so encrusted with grime that very little daylight could permeate the room, which was lit instead with the stubs of candles sitting on rough wooden tables. The floor seemed at first glance to be compressed earth, though as Cris stepped on to it she realized that there was stone beneath what seemed to be the accumulated filth of centuries.**

**Cris remembered Hagrid mentioning this pub in his first year: "Yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hogs Head" he had said, explaining how he had won a dragon's egg from a hooded stranger there. At the time Cris had wondered why Hagrid had not found it odd that the stranger kept his face hidden throughout their encounter; now she saw that keeping your face hidden was something of a fashion in the Hog's Head. There was a man at the bar whose whole head was wrapped in dirty grey bandages, though he was still managing to gulp endless glasses of some smoking, fiery substance through a slit over his mouth; two figures shrouded in hoods sat at a table in one of the windows; Cris might have thought them Dementors if they had not been talking in strong Yorkshire accents,**

"Why can't you be this funny normally?" Charlie asked.

"I don't know," Cris said with a smile. Everyone was chuckling at her thoughts which she didn't really seem all that funny at the time.

**and in a shadowy corner beside the fireplace sat a witch with a thick, black veil that fell to her toes. They could just see the tip of her nose because it caused the veil to protrude slightly.**

"Anyone of those people could be spying on you." Bill said.

"Well it was already too late, like I said." Cris said.

**"I don't know about this, Hermione," Cris muttered, as they crossed to the bar. She was looking particularly at the heavily veiled witch. "Has it occurred to you Umbridge might be under that?"**

**Hermione cast an appraising eye over the veiled figure.**

**"****Umbridge is shorter than that woman," she said quietly. "And anyway, even if Umbridge does come in here there's nothing she can do to stop us, Cris, because I've double- and triple checked the school rules. We're not out of bounds; I specifically asked Professor Flitwick whether students were allowed to come in the Hog's Head, and he said yes, but he advised me strongly to bring our own glasses. **

"My brother was never very clean." Dumbledore said with a smile.

"He really should clean up that place, they could get sick." Lily said.

**And I've looked up everything I can think of about study groups and homework groups and they're definitely allowed. I just don't think it's a good idea if we parade what we're doing."**

**"****No," said Cris dryly, "especially as it's not exactly a homework group you're planning, is it?"**

"Well it kind of is; you're learning the spells you should be learning." Moony said.

**The barman sidled towards them out of a back room. He was a grumpy-looking old man with a great deal of long grey hair and beard. He was tall and thin and looked vaguely familiar to Cris.**

"It's because he's the headmaster's brother." Gwen said.

"I know that now." Cris said.

**"****What?" he grunted.**

**"****Three Butterbeers, please," said Hermione.**

**The man reached beneath the counter and pulled up three very dusty, very dirty bottles, which he slammed on the bar.**

**"****Six Sickles," he said.**

"That doesn't seem too bad." Gwen said.

"It's not really," Lily said.

**"****I'll get them," said Cris quickly, passing over the silver. The barman's eyes traveled over Cris, resting for a fraction of a second on her scar. Then he turned away and deposited Cris' money in an ancient wooden till whose drawer slid open automatically to receive it. Cris, Ron and Hermione retreated to the furthest table from the bar and sat down, looking around. The man in the dirty grey bandages rapped the counter with his knuckles and received another smoking drink from the barman.**

**"You know what?" Ron murmured, looking over at the bar with enthusiasm. "We could order anything we liked in here. I bet that bloke would sell us anything, he wouldn't care. I've always wanted to try Firewhisky -"**

"You'll do no such thing!" Mrs. Weasley screeched.

"We stopped him, don't worry about it." Cris said.

"Good," Mrs. Weasley said.

**"****You - are - a -prefect," snarled Hermione.**

**"****Oh," said Ron, the smile fading from his face. "Yeah…"**

The group chuckled and rolled their eyes at that as Ron blushed.

**"****So, who did you say is supposed to be meeting us?" Cris asked, wrenching open the rusty top of her Butterbeer and taking a swig.**

**"****Just a couple of people," Hermione repeated, checking her watch and looking anxiously towards the door. **

"Your definition of a couple of people is different from mine." Cris said.

"I take it a lot more than a couple of people showed up?" Kit asked.

"Yes," Cris said.

**"****I told them to be here about now and I'm sure they all know where it is - oh, look, this might be them now."**

**The door of the pub had opened. A thick band of dusty sunlight split the room in two for a moment and then vanished, blocked by the incoming rush of a crowd of people.**

"A crowd is definitely more than a couple of people." Prongs said.

"Who all did you invite?" Padfoot asked.

"Hold on Mini me, there's a list." Sirius said.

**First came Neville with Dean and Lavender, who were closely followed by Parvati and Padma Patil with Cho and one of her usually-giggling girlfriends, then (on her own and looking so dreamy she might have walked in by accident) Luna Lovegood; then Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson, Colin and Dennis Creevey, **

"How did he get there?" McGonagall asked.

"I think it may have been the twins." Prongs said.

"I think so too." Lily said seeing the grin on the twins' faces.

**Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbott, a Hufflepuff girl with a long plait down her back whose name Cris did not know; three Ravenclaw boys she was pretty sure were called Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner**

Ginny kind of blushed at the mention of Michael.

**and Terry Boot, Ginny, closely followed by a tall skinny blond boy with an upturned nose whom Cris recognized vaguely as being a member of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and, bringing up the rear, Fred and George Weasley with their friend Lee Jordan, all three of whom were carrying large paper bags crammed with Zonko's merchandise.**

**"****A couple of people?" said Cris hoarsely to Hermione. "A couple of people?"**

**"Yes, well, the idea seemed quite popular," said Hermione happily, "Ron, do you want to pull up some more chairs?"**

**The barman had frozen in the act of wiping out a glass with a rag so filthy it looked as though it had never been washed. Possibly, he had never seen his pub so full.**

"I doubt it ever has been that full." Mr. Weasley said.

**"****Hi," said Fred, reaching the bar first and counting his companions quickly, "could we have… twenty-five Butterbeers, please?"**

**The barman glared at him for a moment, then, throwing down his rag irritably as though he had been interrupted in something very important, he started passing up dusty Butterbeers from under the bar. **

"He should at least clean them first." Mrs. Weasley said under her breath.

**"****Cheers," said Fred, handing them out. "Cough up, everyone; I haven't got enough gold for all of these…"**

**Cris watched numbly as the large chattering group took their beers from Fred and rummaged in their robes to find coins. She could not imagine what all these people had turned up for until the horrible thought occurred to her that they might be expecting some kind of speech, at which she rounded on Hermione.**

**"****What have you been telling people?" she said in a low voice. "What are they expecting?"**

**"****I've told you, they just want to hear what you've got to say," said Hermione soothingly; but Cris continued to look at her so furiously that she added quickly, "you don't have to do anything yet, I'll speak to them first."**

**"Hi, Cris," said Neville, beaming and taking a seat opposite her.**

"I could tell you were nervous, you got all pale once we walked in." Neville said with a smile.

"I know, I'm not shy or anything like that but that was kind of overwhelming." Cris said.

**Cris tried to smile back, but did not speak; her mouth was exceptionally dry. Cho had just smiled at her and sat down on Ron's right. Her friend, who had curly reddish-blonde hair, did not smile, but gave Cris a thoroughly mistrustful look which plainly told her that, given her way, she would not be here at all.**

The future kids looked at each other; if she didn't want to be there then she shouldn't have come.

**In twos and threes the new arrivals settled around Cris, Ron and Hermione, some looking rather excited, others curious, Luna Lovegood gazing dreamily into space. When everybody had pulled up a chair, the chatter died out. Every eye was upon Cris.**

**"****Er," said Hermione, her voice slightly higher than usual out of nerves. "Well - er - hi."**

**The group focused its attention on her instead, though eyes continued to dart back regularly to Cris.**

"Stop staring at her!" Lily shouted.

**"****Well… erm… well, you know why you're here. Erm… well, Cris here had the idea - I mean" (Cris had thrown her a sharp look) "I had the idea - that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts - and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us -" (Hermione's voice became suddenly much stronger and more confident)**

"That's good," Charlie said.

**"****- because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts -" ("Hear, hear," said Anthony Goldstein, and Hermione looked heartened) "- Well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands."**

**She paused, looked sideways at Cris, and went on, "And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just in theory but doing the real spells -"**

**"****You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL too, though, I bet?" said Michael Corner, who was watching her closely.**

**"****Of course I do," said Hermione at once. "But more than that, I want to be properly trained in defense because… because…" she took a great breath and finished, "because Lord Voldemort is back." **

"And here comes the shock." Bill said.

"As always." Charlie said agreeing with his brother.

**The reaction was immediate and predictable. Cho's friend shrieked and slopped Butterbeer down herself; Terry Boot gave a kind of involuntary twitch; Padma Patil shuddered, and Neville gave an odd yelp that he managed to turn into a cough. All of them, however, looked fixedly, even eagerly, at Cris.**

**"****Well… that's the plan, anyway" said Hermione. "If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to -"**

**"****Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?" said the blond Hufflepuff player in a rather aggressive voice.**

"How did he get into Hufflepuff?" Tonks asked.

"I have no idea." Ginny said.

**"****Well, Dumbledore believes it -" Hermione began.**

**"****You mean, Dumbledore believes her," said the blond boy, nodding at her.**

**"****Who are you?" said Ron, rather rudely.**

**"****Zacharias Smith," said the boy, "and I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes her say You-Know-Who's back."**

**"****Look," said Hermione, intervening swiftly, "that's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about -"**

**"****It's okay, Hermione," said Cris.**

**It had just dawned on her why there were so many people there. She thought Hermione should have seen this coming. Some of these people - maybe even most of them - had turned up in the hopes of hearing Cris' story firsthand.**

**"****What makes me say You-Know-Who's back?" she repeated, looking Zacharias straight in the face. "I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you didn't believe him, you won't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."**

**The whole group seemed to have held its breath while Cris spoke. Cris had the impression that even the barman was listening. He was wiping the same glass with the filthy rag, making it steadily dirtier.**

"It's because he's interested, and he'll probably tell me." Dumbledore said.

**Zacharias said dismissively, "All Dumbledore told us last year was that Cedric Diggory got killed by You-Know-Who and that you brought Diggory's body back to Hogwarts. He didn't give us details, he didn't tell us exactly how Diggory got murdered, I think we'd all like to know -"**

**"****If you've come to hear exactly what it looks like when Voldemort murders someone I can't help you," Cris said. Her temper, always so close to the surface these days, was rising again. She did not take her eyes from Zacharias Smith's aggressive face.**

**"****I don't want to talk about Cedric Diggory, all right? So if that's what you're here for, you might as well clear out."**

"I hope he leaves," Tonks said.

"Sadly, he doesn't." Ron said.

**She cast an angry look in Hermione's direction. This was, she felt, all her fault; she had decided to display her like some sort of freak and of course they had all turned up to see just how wild her story was. **

**But none of them left their seats, not even Zacharias Smith, though he continued to gaze intently at Cris.**

**"****So," said Hermione, her voice very high-pitched again. "So… like I was saying… if you want to learn some defense, then we need to work out how we're going to do it, how often we're going to meet and where we're going to -"**

**"****Is it true," interrupted the girl with the long plait down her back, looking at Cris, "that you can produce a Patronus?"**

**"****Yeah," said Cris slightly defensively.**

**"****A corporeal Patronus?"**

"That'll be my niece." Amelia said with a smile.

"She is a lot like you." Ginny said. Amelia smiled at Ginny as Sirius continued reading.

**The phrase stirred something in Cris' memory.**

**"****Er - you don't know Madam Bones, do you?" she asked.**

**The girl smiled.**

**"****She's my auntie," she said. "I'm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. So - is it really true? You make a stag Patronus?"**

**"****Yes," said Cris.**

**"****Blimey, Cris!" said Lee, looking deeply impressed. "I never knew that!"**

**"Mum told Ron not to spread it around," said Fred, grinning at Cris. "She said you got enough attention as it was."**

**"****She's not wrong," mumbled Cris, and a couple of people laughed.**

**The veiled witch sitting alone shifted very slightly in her seat.**

"That's got to be a spy." Padfoot said.

"I'd like to hex that person." Prongs said.

**"****And did you kill a Basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office?" demanded Terry Boot. "That's what one of the portraits on the wall told me when I was in there last year…"**

**"****Er - yeah, I did, yeah," said Cris.**

**Justin Finch-Fletchley whistled; the Creevey brothers exchanged awestruck looks and Lavender Brown said "Wow!" softly. Cris was feeling slightly hot around the collar now.**

**"****And in our first year," said Neville to the group at large, "he saved that Philosophy Stone -"**

**"Philosopher's," hissed Hermione.**

**"****Yes, that - from You-Know-Who," finished Neville.**

**Hannah Abbott's eyes were as round as Galleons.**

**"****And that's not to mention," said Cho "all the tasks she had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year - getting past dragons and merpeople and Acromantula and things…"**

**There was a murmur of impressed agreement around the table. Cris' insides were squirming.**

**She was trying to arrange her face so that she did not look too pleased with herself. The fact that so many people looked and sounded impressed made it easy to talk.**

**"****Look," she said, and everyone fell silent at once, " I… I don't want to sound like I'm trying to be modest or anything, but… I had a lot of help with all that stuff…"**

**"****Not with the dragon, you didn't," said Michael Corner at once. "That was a seriously cool bit of flying…"**

**"****Yeah, well -" said Cris, feeling it would be churlish to disagree.**

**"****And nobody helped you get rid of those Dementors this summer," said Susan Bones.**

**"****No," said Cris, "no, okay, I know I did bits of it without help, but the point I'm trying to make is -" **

**"****Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any of this stuff?" said Zacharias Smith.**

**"****Here's an idea," said Ron loudly, before Cris could speak, "why don't you shut your mouth?"**

"Good one," Bill said with a smile.

**Perhaps the word 'weasel' had affected Ron particularly strongly. In any case, he was now looking at Zacharias as though he would like nothing better than to thump him.**

"I so wanted to." Ron said.

"You should have." Teddy said.

**Zacharias flushed.**

**"****Well, we've all turned up to learn from her and now she's telling us she can't really do any of it," he said.**

**"****That's not what she said," snarled Fred.**

**"****Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" enquired George, pulling a long and lethal looking metal instrument from inside one of the Zonko's bags.**

"Thanks," Cris said kissing their cheeks again.

"No problem Bambi," they said.

**"****Or any part of your body, really, we're not fussy where we stick this," said Fred. Cris smiled at them and when they smiled back butterflies filled her stomach**

**"****Yes, well," said Hermione hastily, "moving on… the point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Cris?"**

**There was a murmur of general agreement. Zacharias folded his arms and said nothing, though perhaps this was because he was too busy keeping an eye on the instrument in Fred's hand.**

**"****Right," said Hermione, looking relieved that something had at last been settled. "Well, then, the next question is how often we do it. I really don't think there's any point in meeting less than once a week -"**

**"Hang on," said Angelina, "we need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice."**

**"****No," said Cho, "nor with ours."**

**"****Nor ours," added Zacharias Smith.**

"That would cause some problems." Charlie said.

"And now we have to deal with four." Cris said. Draco looked sheepish.

"Sorry for making things difficult." Draco said.

"No it's fine; on fact it helps us a bit more." Hermione said.

**"****I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone," aid Hermione, slightly impatiently, "but you know, this is rather important, we're talking about learning to defend ourselves against V-Voldemort's Death Eaters -"**

**"****Well said!" barked Ernie Macmillan, who Cris had been expecting to speak long before this.**

"He was just listening," Robin said.

**"****Personally I think this is really important, possibly more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our OWLs coming up!"**

**He looked around impressively, as though waiting for people to cry "Surely not!" When nobody spoke, he went on, "I, personally am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher on us at this critical period. Obviously, they are in denial about the return of You-Know- Who, but to give us a teacher who is trying to actively prevent us from using defensive spells -"**

**"****We think the reason Umbridge doesn't want us trained in Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Hermione, "is that she's got some… some mad idea that Dumbledore could use the students in the school as a kind of private army. She thinks he'd mobilize us against the Ministry."**

**Nearly everybody looked stunned at this news; everybody except Luna Lovegood, who piped up, "Well, that makes sense. After all, Cornelius Fudge has got his own private army."**

"No I don't!" Fudge cried.

"Denial!" Padfoot sang out.

**"****What?" said Cris, completely thrown by this unexpected piece of information.**

**"****Yes, he's got an army of Heliopaths," said Luna so lemnly.**

"Do they actually exist?" Gwen asked.

"They could, but I've never seen them." Charlie said.

**"****No, he hasn't," snapped Hermione.**

**"****Yes, he has," said Luna.**

**"****What are Heliopaths?" asked Neville, looking blank.**

**"****They're spirits of fire," said Luna, her protuberant eyes widening so that she looked madder than ever, "great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of -"**

**"****They don't exist, Neville," said Hermione tartly.**

**"****Oh, yes, they do!" said Luna angrily.**

**"****I'm sorry, but where's the proof of that?" snapped Hermione.**

**"****There are plenty of eye-witness accounts. Just because you're so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you -"**

**"****Hem, hem," said Ginny, in such a good imitation of Professor Umbridge that several people looked around in alarm and then laughed.**

"Thank you for stopping that fight." Neville said.

"It was a pointless argument." Ginny said with a shrug.

**"Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and have defense lessons?"**

**"****Yes," said Hermione at once, "yes, we were, you're right, Ginny."**

**"****Well, once a week sounds cool," said Lee Jordan.**

**"****As long as -" began Angelina.**

"She is worse than Oliver?" Charlie asked wondering what would get himself into.

"Well, I'm not so sure." Cris said. Charlie sighed but hoped everything would work out.

**"****Yes, yes, we know about the Quidditch," said Hermione in a tense voice. "Well, the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet…"**

**This was rather more difficult; the whole group fell silent.**

**"****Library?" suggested Katie Bell after a few moments.**

**"****I can't see Madam Pince being too chuffed with us doing jinxes in the library," said Cris.**

"Neither can I, but that would be funny." Prongs said. He and Padfoot shared a look before being whacked by Lily and Moony.

"You will do no such thing." Lily and Moony said together.

**"****Maybe an unused classroom?" said Dean.**

**"****Yeah," said Ron, "McGonagall might let us have hers, she did when Cris was practicing for the Triwizard."**

**But Cris was pretty certain that McGonagall would not be so accommodating this time. For all that Hermione had said about study and homework groups being allowed, she had the distinct feeling that this one might be considered a lot more rebellious.**

"It most certainly is, but I would have helped." McGonagall said with a smile.

"I guess we could have talked to her." Ron said.

"Well it's done now," Cris said.

**"****Right, well, we'll try to find somewhere," said Hermione. "We'll send a message round to everybody when we've got a time and a place for the first meeting."**

**She rummaged in her bag and produced parchment and a quill, then hesitated, rather as though she was steeling herself to say something.**

**"****I - I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think," she took a deep breath, "that we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge or anybody else what we're up to."**

"But what if the list was found?" Robin asked.

"This is Hermione we're talking about; I doubt she'll loose the list." Remus said.

**Fred reached out for the parchment and cheerfully wrote his signature, but Cris noticed at once that several people looked less than happy at the prospect of putting their names on the list.**

**"****Er…" said Zacharias slowly, not taking the parchment that George was trying to pass to him, "well… I'm sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is."**

**But Ernie was looking rather hesitant about signing, too. Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.**

**"****I - well, we are prefects," Ernie burst out. "And if this list was found… well, I mean to say… you said yourself, if Umbridge finds out -"**

**"You just said this group was the most important thing you'd do this year," Cris reminded him.**

**"****I - yes," said Ernie, "yes, I do believe that, it ' s just -"**

**"****Ernie, do you really think I'd leave that list lying around?" said Hermione testily.**

**"****No. No, of course not," said Ernie, looking slightly less anxious. "I - yes, of course I'll sign."**

**Nobody raised objections after Ernie, though Cris saw Cho's friend give her a rather reproachful look before adding her own name. **

"I don't think she is a trust worthy person to have there." Kingsley said.

"Me neither." Tonks said.

**When the last person - Zacharias - had signed, Hermione took the parchment back and slipped it carefully into her bag. There was an odd feeling in the group now. It was as though they had just signed some kind of contract.**

"Was there something on the parchment?" Neville asked.

"Maybe, but I won't tell you." Hermione said.

"Is it something dangerous?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"No," Hermione said.

**"****Well, time's ticking on," said Fred briskly, getting to his feet. "George, Lee and I have got items of a sensitive nature to purchase; we'll be seeing you all later."**

**In twos and threes the rest of the group took their leave, too.**

**"****Well, I think that went quite well," said Hermione happily, as she, Cris and Ron walked out of the Hog's Head into the bright sunlight a few moments later. Cris and Ron were clutching their bottles of Butterbeer.**

**"****That Zacharias bloke's a wart," said Ron, who was glowering after the figure of Smith, just discernible in the distance.**

**"****I don't like him much, either," admitted Hermione, "but he overheard me talking to Ernie and Hannah at the Hufflepuff table and he seemed really interested in coming, so what could I say?****But the more people the better really - I mean, Michael Corner and his friends wouldn't have come if he hadn't been going out with Ginny -" **

"What!?" exclaimed her oldest brothers.

"I broke it off with him just before Christmas actually." Ginny said. Neville smiled and hugged her too him. Mrs. Weasley looked at the scene before her. Cris nestled between the twins, Ron and Hermione cuddling, Ginny and Neville snuggling close together, Bill and Fleur leaning into each other and smiled. Most of her children had found someone who fit them, all that left now is Charlie and Percy.

**Ron, who had been draining the last few drops from his Butterbeer bottle, gagged and sprayed Butterbeer down his front.**

**"****He's WHAT?" spluttered Ron, outraged, his ears now resembling curls of raw beef. "She's going out with - my sister's going - what d'you mean, Michael Corner?"**

"Well at least Ron knows." Charlie said.

"He'll make sure nothing gets out of hand." Bill said.

**"****Well, that's why he and his friends came, I think - well, they're obviously interested in learning defense, but if Ginny hadn't told Michael what was going on -"**

**"****When did this - when did she -?"**

**"****They met at the Yule Ball and got together at the end of last year," said Hermione composedly. They had turned into the High Street and she paused outside Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, where there was a handsome display of pheasant feather quills in the window. "Hmm… I could do with a new quill."**

"How fast do you go through them?" Bill asked.

"Faster than you think." Cris said with a smile towards her best friend.

**She turned into the shop. Cris and Ron followed her.**

**"****Which one was Michael Corner?" Ron demanded furiously.**

**"****The dark one," said Hermione.**

**"****I didn't like him," said Ron at once.**

"You would have gotten along with him. He is actually a really nice guy." Ginny said.

"I'll take your word for it." Ron said.

**"****Big surprise," said Hermione under her breath.**

"**But didn't she go to the Yule Ball with Neville?" Ron asked his face almost as red as his hair. Cris and Hermione turned to him both had their eyebrows raised. **

"Oh, girl team up." Sirius said.

"**Well yeah, but they met after the ball." Hermione said. **

"**She liked dancing with Neville and all but her and Michael really hit it off." Cris said. **

"But how did they get together in your time?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"It should be in the books." Lily J said.

**"****Exactly," said Hermione. "Yes, I think I'll have this one…"**

**She went up to the counter and handed over fifteen Sickles and two Knuts, with Ron still breathing down her neck.**

**"****Ron," she said severely as she turned and trod on his feet, "this is exactly why Ginny hasn't told you she's seeing Michael; she knew you'd take it badly. So don't harp on about it, for heaven's sake."**

"That's why I don't like talking about whoever I'm dating." Ginny said.

"I know how you feel Aunt Ginny." Lily J said.

"I take it James and Al didn't take it well when you and Teddy started dating?" Robin asked.

"No not really." Teddy said to his aunt.

**"****What d'you mean? Who's taking anything badly? I'm not going to harp on about anything…" **

"Sure you aren't," Cris and Hermione said.

**Ron continued to chunter under his breath all the way down the street.**

**Hermione rolled her eyes at Cris and then said in an undertone, while Ron was still muttering imprecations about Michael Corner, "And talking about Michael and Ginny… what about Fred and George and you?"**

**"****What d'you mean?" said Cris quickly.**

"We're hurt Bambi," they said.

"I didn't understand my feelings, I'm sorry." Cris said.

**It was as though boiling water was rising rapidly inside her; a burning sensation that was causing her face too smart in the cold -had she been that obvious?**

**"****Well," said Hermione, smiling slightly, "they just couldn't keep her eyes off you, could they?" **

**Cris had never before appreciated just how beautiful the village of Hogsmeade was.**

"Glad we could help." Fred said.

"It really is beautiful though." Cris said.

"That's the chapter." Sirius said handing it to Scarlett.

"Actually let's call it a night." Mrs. Weasley said. They nodded and they all went off to bed


	18. Break 1

It was the middle of the night when Lily woke up. She couldn't sleep; maybe it was because of the learning what would happen if they didn't fix anything. She sat up and looked around Cris was fast asleep her long black hair messy behind her. Lily smiled and stood and walked over to her. She sat on the edge of the bed and even though Lily was 16 at the moment felt great waves of motherly affection of the teenager she watched sleep. She leaned over and kissed Cris' forehead and left the room the girls shared. She decided to go to the kitchen to get a cup of hot chocolate to help her sleep. When she walked in she saw Prongs in there as well.

"Couldn't sleep either I see." Lily said with a smile. Prongs stopped and turned and smiled when he saw Lily.

"No, I couldn't stop thinking about all this." Prongs said.

"Me either, it's just not fair, we finally get married, had a baby then we're killed. We missed so much of her life." Lily said. Tears started to fall down her face and Prongs stepped forward and brought into a hug.

"I know Lils, I know. At least she has someone to watch after her." Prongs said kissing her forehead. He let go and filled two mugs of hot chocolate. He handed one to Lily and they walked out to the living room and sat down on one of the couches.

"We are going to change this right James? I can't take our baby girl not knowing us or not knowing something that she should have known growing up." Lily said with tears in her eyes. Prongs set down his mug and wrapped his arms around her and rocked her to calm down.

"We will change it, and Cris will have siblings and know all about our traditions and will not be hunted down by Voldemort." Prongs said.

"I would rather her be pranking then her almost dying." Lily said.

"Then she will," Prongs said kissing her. They sat in silence until they were both fast asleep in each other's arms.

*Next Morning*

Prongs woke up hearing laughing and opened his eyes to see Moony and Padfoot standing there. Moony was smiling at the two and Padfoot was laughing like mad at the pair snuggled together on the couch.

"Morning you two, Molly will have breakfast ready in a few minutes." Moony said with a smile. Lily and Prongs smiled and nodded and got up to go and get ready for the day. Prongs was cornered again by his friends before he could get out of the room.

"So what were you and Lily doing?" Kit asked with a smile.

"Talking, she was upset and I comforted her." Prongs said simply.

"Is it about Cris?" Moony asked sadly. Padfoot sobered at that and looked at his brother in all but blood.

"Yeah, she really wants to change what happened." Prongs said.

"And we will mate; now let's get out of here and eat before the Weasley's eat all of the food." Padfoot said with a smile.

They walked back into the kitchen and sat down just as everyone started eating. After breakfast they all went back into the living room and Scarlett started the next chapter.


	19. Chapter 17: Educational Decree 24

"**Chapter 17: Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four," **Scarlett read.

"That doesn't sound good at all." Al said.

"I agree," Prongs said.

**Cris felt happier for the rest of the weekend than she had done all term. She and Ron spent much of Sunday catching up with all their homework again,**

"You call that fun?" Sirius asked.

"I blame you." Prongs said to Lily. Lily rolled her eyes and smiled at her daughter.

**and although this could hardly be called fun, the last burst of autumn sunshine persisted, so rather than sitting hunched over tables in the common room they took their work outside and lounged in the shade of a large beech tree on the edge of the lake.**

"I always loved doing work outside, it was much nicer." Prongs said.

**Hermione, who of course was up to date with all her work, brought more wool outside with her and bewitched her knitting needles so that they flashed and clicked in midair beside her, producing more hats and scarves.**

**Knowing they were doing something to resist Umbridge and the Ministry, and that she was a key part of the rebellion, gave Cris a feeling of immense satisfaction. She kept reliving Saturdays meeting in her mind: all those people, coming to her to learn Defense Against the Dark Arts… and the looks on their faces as they had heard some of the things she had done– The knowledge that all those people did not think her a lying weirdo, but someone to be admired, buoyed her up so much that she was still cheerful on Monday morning, despite the imminent prospect of all her least favorite classes.**

**She and Ron headed downstairs from their dormitory, discussing Angelina's idea that they were to work on a new move called the Sloth Grip Roll during that night's Quidditch practice, **

"Really sloth grip roll?" Prongs asked.

"It's actually really cool." Cris said.

"It is," Ron and the twins said.

**and not until they were halfway across the sunlit common room did they notice the addition to the room that had already attracted the attention of a small group of people.**

**A large sign had been affixed to the Gryffindor noticeboard; so large it covered everything else on it - the lists of secondhand spell books for sale, the regular reminders of school rules from Argus Filch, the Quidditch team training timetable, the offers to barter certain Chocolate Frog Cards for others, the Weasleys' latest advertisement for testers, the dates of the Hogsmeade weekends and the lost and found notices. The new sign was printed in large black letters and there was a highly official-looking seal at the bottom beside a neat and curly signature.**

**BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS**

**All student organizations, societies, teams, groups and clubs are henceforth disbanded.**

"What!" cried the room.

"That includes Quidditch!" Prongs shouted.

"You are screwed." Moony said.

**An organization, society, team, group or club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students.**

"So you're fine then." Lily said with a smile.

"But it has over twenty people in it!" Umbridge screeched.

"And they don't have regular meetings, so they are technically just a group of students helping each other out." Bill said with a smirk.

**Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge).**

**No student organization, society, team, group or club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor.**

**Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an organization, society, team, group or club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.**

**The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-four.**

**Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor**

**Cris and Ron read the notice over the heads of some anxious-looking second-years.**

**"****Does this mean they're going to shut down the Gobstones Club?" one of them asked his friend.**

"Somehow I don't think it means that." Moony said.

**"I reckon you'll be okay with Gobstones," Ron said darkly, making the second-year jump. "I don't think we're going to be as lucky, though, do you?" he asked Cris as the second-years hurried away.**

**Cris was reading the notice through again. The happiness that had filled her since Saturday was gone. Her insides were pulsing with rage. But as she read it she smirked.**

**"This isn't a coincidence," she said, her hands forming fists. "She knows. But she can't do anything about it. It says hear that a group has regular meetings. We won't be having regular meetings, we're in the clear."**

"Question is, how does she know?" Robin asked.

"That is why you should have done it in the Three Broomsticks." Sirius said.

**"****She can't, but are you sure about the technicalities?" said Ron at once.**

**"****There were people listening in that pub. And let's face it, we don't know how many of the people who turned up we can trust… any of them could have run off and told Umbridge… And yeah, we would be fine."**

**And she had thought they believed her, thought they even admired her…**

**"****Zacharias Smith!" said Ron at once, punching a fist into his hand. "Or - I thought that Michael Corner had a really shifty look, too -"**

"No, that's because I was with him at that point." Ginny said rolling her eyes.

**"****I wonder if Hermione's seen this yet?" Cris said, looking round at the door to the girls' dormitories.**

**"****Let's go and tell her," said Ron. He bounded forwards before Cris could stop him and let her go and get Hermione, pulled open the door and set off up the spiral staircase. **

"You really should have had Cris go and get her." Robin said with a smile.

"I know," Ron said blushing. His brothers were laughing so Scarlett started reading again.

**He was on the sixth stair when there was a loud, wailing, klaxon-like sound and the steps melted together to make a long, smooth stone slid. There was a brief moment when Ron tried to keep running, arms working madly like windmills, then he toppled over backwards and shot down the newly created slide, coming to rest on his back at Cris' feet.**

**"I could have told you that you weren't allowed up there," said Cris, pulling Ron to his feet and trying not to laugh.**

"Some friend you are." Ron said.

"If you weren't so impatient then you would have known that." Cris said with a smile.

**Two fourth-year girls came zooming gleefully down the stone slide.**

**"Oooh, who tried to get upstairs?" they giggled happily, leaping to their feet and ogling Ron.**

**"Me," said Ron, who was still rather disheveled. " I didn't realize that would happen. It's not fair!" he added to Cris, as the girls headed off for the portrait hole, still giggling madly. "Hermione and you are allowed in the boy's dormitory, how come I'm not allowed -?"**

"Because girls are more trustworthy than boys." Lily said with a big grin.

"Otherwise Prongs would have snuck into the girl's dorm a lot." Sirius said with a laugh.

**"Well, it's an old-fashioned rule," said Hermione, who had just slid neatly on to a rug in front of them and was now getting to her feet, "but it says in Hogwarts A History, that the founders thought boys were less trustworthy than girls. Anyway, why were you trying to get in there?"**

**"To see you - look at this!" said Ron, dragging her over to the noticeboard.**

**Hermione's eyes slid rapidly down the notice. Her expression became stony.**

**"Someone must have blabbed to her!" Ron said angrily.**

**"They can't have done," said Hermione in a low voice.**

**"You're so naive," said Ron, "you think just because you're all honorable and trustworthy -"**

**"No, they can't have done, because I put a jinx on that piece of parchment we all signed," said Hermione grimly. "Believe me, if anyone's run off and told Umbridge, we'll know exactly who they are and they will really regret it."**

**"What'll happen to them?" said Ron eagerly.**

**"Well, put it this way" said Hermione, "it'll make Eloise Midgeon's acne look like a couple of cute freckles. Plus technically we aren't breaking the rules.**

"Well that's one way to make sure nobody tells." Remus said.

"And you'll know if someone told." Sirius said.

**Come on, let's get down to breakfast and see what the others think… I wonder whether this has been put up in all the houses?"**

**It was immediately apparent on entering the Great Hall that Umbridge's sign had not only appeared in Gryffindor Tower. There was a peculiar intensity about the chatter and an extra measure of movement in the Hall as people scurried up and down their tables conferring on what they had read. Cris, Ron and Hermione had barely taken their seats when Neville, Dean, Fred, George and Ginny descended upon them.**

**"Did you see it?"**

**"D'you reckon she knows?"**

**"What are we going to do?" **

"Well at least everyone else is talking in groups too, you won't be caught." Charlie said.

**They were all looking at Cris. She glanced around to make sure there were no teachers near them.**

**"We're going to do it anyway of course, we aren't breaking any rules really." she said quietly.**

**"Knew you'd say that, what do you mean?"' said George, beaming and thumping Cris on the arm. **

"**It says regular meetings; we won't be having regular meetings." Cris said. Fred and George grinned broadly and looked like they would kiss her.**

"**I love loopholes." Dean said with a grin.**

**"The prefects as well?" said Fred, looking quizzically at Ron and Hermione.**

**"Of course," said Hermione coolly.**

"Well she did come up with the idea." Neville said.

**"Here come Ernie and Hannah Abbott," said Ron, looking over his shoulder. "And those Ravenclaw blokes and Smith… and no one looks very spotty."**

"So it must have been someone in the bar." Padfoot said.

**Hermione looked alarmed.**

**"Never mind spots, the idiots can't come over here now, it'll look really suspicious - sit down!" she mouthed to Ernie and Hannah, gesturing frantically to them to rejoin the Hufflepuff table.**

**"Later! We'll - talk - to - you - later!"**

**"I'll tell Michael," said Ginny impatiently, swinging herself off her bench, "the fool, honestly…"**

**She hurried off towards the Ravenclaw table; Cris watched her go. Cho was sitting not far away; talking to the curly-haired friend she had brought along to the Hog's Head. Would Umbridge's notice scare her off meeting them again?**

**But the full repercussions of the sign were not felt until they were leaving the Great Hall for History of Magic.**

**"Cris! Ron!"**

**It was Angelina and she was hurrying towards them looking perfectly desperate.**

**"It's okay," said Cris quietly, when she was near enough to hear her. "We're still going to -"**

"Somehow I don't think she wants to talk to you about that." Charlie said.

**"You realize she's including Quidditch in this?" Angelina said over him. "We have to go and ask permission to re-form the Gryffindor team!"**

**"What? I didn't think of that." said Cris.**

**"No way," said Ron, appalled.**

**"You read the sign, it mentions teams too! So listen, Cris… I am saying this for the last time… please, please don't lose your temper with Umbridge again or she might not let us play anymore!"**

"Somehow I think she would do that." Lily said.

"She better not," Padfoot snarled under his breath glaring at the tied up official.

**"Okay, okay," said Cris, for Angelina looked as though she was on the verge of tears. "Don't worry, I'll behave myself…"**

**"Bet Umbridge is in History of Magic," said Ron grimly, as they set off for Binns's lesson. "She hasn't inspected Binns yet… bet you anything she's there…" **

"I doubt she'll inspect him even if she wanted to." Sirius snorted.

**But he was wrong; the only teacher present when they entered was Professor Binns, floating an inch or so above his chair as usual and preparing to continue his monotonous drone on giant wars. Cris did not even attempt to follow what he was saying today; she doodled idly on her parchment ignoring Hermione's frequent glares and nudges, until a particularly painful poke in the ribs made her look up angrily.**

**"What?"**

**She pointed at the window. Cris looked round. Hedwig was perched on the narrow window ledge, gazing through the thick glass at her, a letter tied to her leg. Cris could not understand it; they had just had breakfast, why on earth hadn't she delivered the letter then, as usual?**

"Maybe someone told her to not deliver it where everyone can see it." Bill said.

"She is smart enough to understand that." Charlie said.

**Many of her classmates were pointing out Hedwig to each other, too.**

**"Oh, I've always loved that owl, she's so beautiful," Cris heard Lavender sigh to Parvati. **

"That's kind of random." Gwen said.

"Yeah," Cris said.

**She glanced round at Professor Binns who continued to read his notes, serenely unaware that the class's attention was even less focused upon him than usual. Cris slipped quietly off her chair, crouched down and hurried along the row to the window, where she slid the catch and opened it very slowly.**

**She had expected Hedwig to hold out her leg so that she could remove the letter and then fly off to the Owlery but the moment the window was open wide enough she hopped inside, hooting dolefully. **

**She closed the window with an anxious glance at Professor Binns, crouched low again and sped back to her seat with Hedwig on her shoulder. She regained her seat, transferred Hedwig to her lap and made to remove the letter tied to her leg.**

**Only then did she realize that Hedwig's feathers were oddly ruffled; some were bent the wrong way, and she was holding one of her wings at an odd angle.**

"Someone intercepted it." Charlie cried.

"Isn't that illegal?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah, it is." Robin said.

"I think I know exactly who it might be." Lily said.

**"She's hurt!" Cris whispered, bending her head low over her. Hermione and Ron leaned in closer; Hermione even put down her quill. "Look - there's something wrong with her wing -"**

**Hedwig was quivering; when Cris made to touch the wing she gave a little jump, all her feathers on end as though she was inflating herself, and gazed at her reproachfully.**

**"Professor Binns," said Cris loudly, and everyone in the class turned to look at her. "I'm not feeling well."**

"You know, you could have just left, I doubt he would have noticed." Remus said.

"I thought you were the good student." Lily said.

"I am, but I am also a marauder." Moony said.

**Professor Binns raised his eyes from his notes, looking amazed, as always, to find the room in front of him full of people.**

**"Not feeling well?" he repeated hazily.**

**"Not at all well," said Cris firmly getting to her feet with Hedwig concealed behind her back. "I think I need to go to the hospital wing."**

**"Yes," said Professor Binns, clearly very much wrong-footed. "Yes… yes, hospital wing… well, off you go, then, Perkins…"**

"He calls me that too." Prongs said. Cris smiled at her dad as Scarlett continued reading.

**Once outside the room, Cris returned Hedwig to her shoulder and hurried off up the corridor, pausing to think only when she was out of sight of Binns's door. Her first choice of somebody to cure Hedwig would have been Hagrid, of course, but as he had no idea where Hagrid was her only remaining option was to find Professor Grubbly-Plank and hope she would help.**

**She peered out of a window at the blustery, overcast grounds. There was no sign of her anywhere near Hagrid's cabin; if she was not teaching, she was probably in the staff room. She set off downstairs, Hedwig hooting feebly as she swayed on her shoulder.**

**Two stone gargoyles flanked the staff-room door. As Cris approached, one of them croaked, "You should be in class, Girly Jim."**

"Don't you dare," Prongs said glaring at Padfoot, Moony and Kit.

"They call me that sometimes. But Gem spelled g-e-m, or sometimes its Jim like the name." James said.

"Interesting play on words." Remus said.

**"This is urgent," said Cris curtly.**

**"Ooooh, urgent, is it?" said the other gargoyle in a high-pitched voice. "Well, that's put us in our place, hasn't it?"**

**Cris knocked. She heard footsteps, then the door opened and she found herself face to face with Professor McGonagall.**

**"You haven't been given another detention!" she said at once, her square spectacles flashing alarmingly.**

"I'm sorry I came to that conclusion." McGonagall said.

"It's okay, the last time this happened I did have detention." Cris said.

**"No, Professor!" said Cris hastily.**

**"Well then, why are you out of class?"**

**"It's urgent, apparently," said the second gargoyle snidely.**

"Oh shut up," Tonks said.

**"I'm looking for Professor Grubbly-Plank," Cris explained. "It's my owl, she's injured."**

**"Injured owl, did you say?"**

**Professor Grubbly-Plank appeared at Professor McGonagall's shoulder, smoking a pipe and holding a copy of the Daily Prophet.**

**"Yes," said Cris, lifting Hedwig carefully off her shoulder, "she turned up after the other post owls and her wing's all funny, look -"**

**Professor Grubbly-Plank stuck her pipe firmly between her teeth and took Hedwig from Cris while Professor McGonagall watched.**

**"Hmm," said Professor Grubbly-Plank, her pipe waggling slightly as she talked. "Looks like something's attacked her. Can't think what would have done it, though. Thestrals will sometimes go for birds, of course, but Hagrid's got the Hogwarts Thestrals well-trained not to touch owls."**

**Cris neither knew nor cared what Thestrals were; **

"You should have asked, we would have told you." McGonagall said.

"Yeah, that would have been good." Cris said.

**she just wanted to know that Hedwig was going to be all right. Professor McGonagall, however, looked sharply at Cris and said, "Do you know how far this owl's traveled, Potter?"**

**"Er," said Cris. "From London, I think."**

**She met her eyes briefly and knew, by the way her eyebrows had joined in the middle, that she understood 'London' to mean 'number twelve, Grimmauld Place'. **

"Good," Kit said.

"I knew Sirius wouldn't let Cris stay gone without at least some form of communication." McGonagall said.

**Professor Grubbly-Plank pulled a monocle out of the inside of her robes and screwed it into her eye, to examine Hedwig's wing closely. "I should be able to sort this out if you leave her with me, Potter," she said, "she shouldn't be flying long distances for a few days, in any case."**

**"Er - right - thanks"' said Cris, just as the bell rang for break.**

**"No problem," said Professor Grubbly-Plank gruffly, turning back into the staff room.**

**"Just a moment, Wilhelmina!" said Professor McGonagall. "Potter's letter!"**

"I can't believe you almost forgot that." Sirius said.

"I was worried about Hedwig." Cris said.

"I understand pup." Sirius said with a smile.

**"Oh yeah!" said Cris, who had momentarily forgotten the scroll tied to Hedwig's leg. Professor Grubbly-Plank handed it over and then disappeared into the staff room carrying Hedwig, who was staring at Cris as though unable to believe she would give her away like this. Feeling slightly guilty, she turned to go, but Professor McGonagall called her back.**

**"Potter!"**

**"Yes, Professor?"**

**She glanced up and down the corridor; there were students coming from both directions.**

**"Bear in mind," she said quickly and quietly, her eyes on the scroll in her hand, "that channels of communication in and out of Hogwarts may be being watched, won't you?"**

"At least she warned you." Lily said.

"It was a good thing too." Keiran said.

**"I -" said Cris, but the flood of students rolling along the corridor was almost upon her.**

**Professor McGonagall gave her a curt nod and retreated into the staff room, leaving Cris to be swept out into the courtyard with the crowd. She spotted Ron and Hermione already standing in a sheltered corner, their cloak collars turned up against the wind. Cris slit open the scroll as she hurried towards them and found five words in Sirius's handwriting:**

_**Today, same time, same place. **_

"Nobody could figure that out." Remus said.

"But that's still really dangerous." Lily said.

**"Is Hedwig okay?" asked Hermione anxiously, the moment he was within earshot.**

**"Where did you take her?" asked Ron.**

**"To Grubbly-Plank," said Cris. "And I met McGonagall… listen…"**

**And she told them what Professor McGonagall had said. To her surprise, neither of the others looked shocked. On the contrary, they exchanged significant looks.**

"So you figured it out, good." Mrs. Weasley said.

**"What?" said Cris, looking from Ron to Hermione and back again.**

**"Well, I was just saying to Ron… what if someone had tried to intercept Hedwig? I mean, she's never been hurt on a flight before, has she?"**

**"Who's the letter from, anyway?" asked Ron, taking the note from Cris.**

**"Snuffles"' said Cris quietly.**

**"'Same time, same place?' Does he mean the fire in the common room?"**

**"Obviously," said Hermione, also reading the note. She looked uneasy. "I just hope nobody else has read this…"**

**"But it was still sealed and everything," said Cris, trying to convince herself as much as her. **

"But they could easily reseal it and everything." Lily J told her mum.

"I didn't want to think that." Cris said.

**"And nobody would understand what it meant if they didn't know where we'd spoken to him before, would they?"**

**"I don't know," said Hermione anxiously, hitching her bag back over her shoulder as the bell rang again, "it wouldn't be exactly difficult to re-seal the scroll by magic… and if anyone's watching the Floo Network… but I don't really see how we can warn him not to come without that being intercepted, too!"**

**They trudged down the stone steps to the dungeons for Potions, all three of them lost in thought, but as they reached the bottom of the steps they were recalled to themselves by the voice of Draco Malfoy who was standing just outside Snape's classroom door, waving around an official looking piece of parchment and talking much louder than was necessary so that they could hear every word. **

"What is it now?" Padfoot asked.

**"Yeah, Umbridge gave the Slytherin Quidditch team permission to continue playing straightaway; I went to ask her first thing this morning. Well, it was pretty much automatic, I mean, she knows my father really well, he's always popping in and out of the Ministry… it'll be interesting to see whether Gryffindor are allowed to keep playing, won't it?" **

"They better or so help me…" Prongs growled.

**"Don't rise," Hermione whispered imploringly to Cris and Ron, who were both watching Malfoy, faces set and fists clenched. "It's what he wants."**

**"I mean," said Malfoy, raising his voice a little more, his grey eyes glittering malevolently in Cris and Ron's direction, "if it's a question of influence with the Ministry, I don't think they've got much chance…**

"You are so lucky to still be alive you know that." Tonks said.

"I know," Draco said to his cousin.

**from what my father says, they've been looking for an excuse to sack Arthur Weasley for years… **

"I'm sorry, if it wasn't for Crabbe and Goyle," Draco said.

"We know, they would tell your father." Mr. Weasley said with a smile.

"And I would definitely get into trouble." Draco said shivering at the thought.

**and as for Potter… my father says it's a matter of time before the Ministry has her carted off to St. Mungo's… apparently they've got a special ward for people whose brains have been addled by magic."**

"That's not funny." Neville said glaring at the Slytherin.

"Why is that?" Alice asked.

"If you don't want to tell them it'll say again in the book." Scarlett said.

"Mum, it'll explain, can you wait?" Neville asked.

"Do I want to know?" Frank asked.

"Not really mate," Padfoot said.

**Malfoy made a grotesque face, his mouth sagging open and his eyes rolling. Crabbe and Goyle gave their usual grunts of laughter; Pansy Parkinson shrieked with glee.**

**Something collided hard with Cris' shoulder, knocking her sideways. A split second later she realized that Neville had just charged past her, heading straight for Malfoy.**

"There's your Gryffindor bravery," Sirius said with a large smile.

"Thanks," Neville said.

**"Neville, no!"**

**Cris leapt forward and seized the back of Neville's robes; Neville struggled frantically, his fists flailing, trying desperately to get at Malfoy who looked, for a moment, extremely shocked.**

**"Help me!" Cris flung at Ron, managing to get an arm around Neville's neck and dragging him backwards, away from the Slytherins. Crabbe and Goyle were flexing their arms as they stepped in front of Malfoy, ready for the fight. Ron seized Neville's arms, and together he and Cris succeeded in dragging Neville back into the Gryffindor line. Neville's face was scarlet; the pressure Cris was exerting on his throat rendered him quite incomprehensible, but odd words spluttered from his mouth.**

**"Not… funny… don't… Mungo's… show… him…"**

"Um, I'm glad you actually stopped him." Draco said.

"You're welcome I think." Cris said.

**The dungeon door opened. Snape appeared there. His black eyes swept up the Gryffindor line to the point where Cris and Ron were wrestling with Neville.**

**"Fighting, Potter, Weasley, Longbottom?" Snape said in his cold, sneering voice. "Ten points from Gryffindor. Release Longbottom, Potter, or it will be detention. Inside, all of you."**

"Of course you see the aftermath, just typical." Sirius said.

**Cris let go of Neville, who stood panting and glaring at her.**

**"I had to stop you," Cris gasped, picking up her bag. "Crabbe and Goyle would've torn you apart."**

"That's true, the last time you faced them you ended up in the hospital wing unconscious." Ginny said. Neville grinned sheepishly but didn't say anything else.

**Neville said nothing; he merely snatched up his own bag and stalked off into the dungeon.**

**"What in the name of Merlin," said Ron slowly, as they followed Neville, "was that about?"**

**Cris did not answer. She knew exactly why the subject of people who were in St. Mungo's because of magical damage to their brains was highly distressing to Neville, but she had sworn to Dumbledore that she would not tell anyone Neville's secret. Even Neville did not know Cris knew.**

"Thanks," Neville said.

"It's not my secret to tell." Cris said.

**Cris, Ron and Hermione took their usual seats at the back of the class, pulled out parchment, quills and their copies of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. The class around them was whispering about what Neville had just done, but when Snape closed the dungeon door with an echoing bang, everybody immediately fell silent.**

**"You will notice," said Snape, in his low, sneering voice, "that we have a guest with us today."**

"Well crap, that is a very bad combo." Charlie said.

"No kidding," Robin said.

**He gestured towards the dim corner of the dungeon and Cris saw Professor Umbridge sitting there, clipboard on her knee. She glanced sideways at Ron and Hermione, his eyebrows raised.**

**Snape and Umbridge, the two teachers she hated most. It was hard to decide which one she wanted to triumph over the other.**

"That is a hard one." Tonks said.

"I don't know which one I want to win either." Charlie said.

**"We are continuing with our Strengthening Solution today. You will find your mixtures as you left them last lesson; if correctly made they should have matured well over the weekend - instructions -" he waved his wand again "- on the board. Carry on."**

**Professor Umbridge spent the first half hour of the lesson making notes in her corner. Cris was very interested in hearing her question Snape; so interested, that she was becoming careless with her potion again.**

**"Salamander blood, Cris!" Hermione moaned, grabbing her wrist to prevent her adding the wrong ingredient for the third time, "not pomegranate juice!"**

"Yeah, don't do that." Remus said.

"You would know," Robin said with a smirk at her brother.

"Do we want to know?" Cris asked with a big grin.

"No!" Moony and Remus said.

"Now I really want to know." Ginny said.

"Me too," Ron said.

"I'll tell you later." Sirius said with a wink.

**"Right," said Cris vaguely, putting down the bottle and continuing to watch the corner.**

**Umbridge had just got to her feet. "Ha," she said softly, as she strode between two lines of desks towards Snape, who was bending over Dean Thomas's cauldron.**

**"Well, the class seem fairly advanced for their level," she said briskly to Snape's back.**

**"Though I would question whether it is advisable to teach them a potion like the Strengthening Solution. I think the Ministry would prefer it if that was removed from the syllabus." **

"Is the Ministry really this idiotic to change every little tradition at Hogwarts?" Tonks asked.

"I'm afraid so." Kingsley said to his partner.

"It was even on there since we were at school at least." Mrs. Weasley said.

"It has been on there since the founding of the school." Dumbledore said.

**Snape straightened up slowly and turned to look at her.**

**"Now… how long have you been teaching at Hogwarts?" she asked, her quill poised over her clipboard.**

**"Fourteen years," Snape replied. His expression was unfathomable. Cris, watching him closely, added a few drops to his potion; it hissed menacingly and turned from turquoise to orange.**

"That'll be right about the time we died." Lily whispered.

"I wonder why." Prongs said.

**"You applied first for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post, I believe?" Professor Umbridge asked Snape.**

"I don't even want to think about what would happen if he even taught that class." Bill said.

"Who knows, maybe it would be really good." Tonks said.

"Well he would be gone by the end of the year." Ron said.

**"Yes," said Snape quietly.**

**"But you were unsuccessful?"**

**Snape's lip curled.**

**"Obviously"**

"Thank god for that," Gwen muttered. She really didn't like this teacher at all.

**Professor Umbridge scribbled on her clipboard.**

**"And you have applied regularly for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post since you first joined the school, I believe?"**

**"Yes," said Snape quietly, barely moving his lips. He looked very angry. **

"So you didn't want him in that position." Robin said.

"I wonder why." Lily said.

**"Do you have any idea why Dumbledore has consistently refused to appoint you?" asked Umbridge.**

**"I suggest you ask him," said Snape jerkily.**

**"Oh, I shall," said Professor Umbridge, with a sweet smile.**

**"I suppose this is relevant?" Snape asked, his black eyes narrowed.**

**"Oh yes," said Professor Umbridge, "yes, the Ministry wants a thorough understanding of teachers - er - backgrounds."**

"Well if you knew he would probably be fired right away." Sirius said.

"Maybe or maybe not." Charlie said.

**She turned away, walked over to Pansy Parkinson and began questioning her about the lessons.**

**Snape looked round at Cris and their eyes met for a second. Cris hastily dropped her gaze to her potion, which was now congealing foully and giving off a strong smell of burned rubber.**

"**No marks again, then, Potter" said Snape maliciously, emptying Cris' cauldron with a wave of his wand. **

"You really need to learn to let things go; really you just hate her because you can't let things go." Lily said. Snape looked at his old childhood friend but couldn't bring himself to do anything.

**"You will write me an essay on the correct composition of this potion, indicating how and why you went wrong, to be handed in next lesson, do you understand?"**

**"Yes," said Cris furiously. Snape had already given them homework and she had Quidditch practice this evening;**

"If Umbridge lets the team reform." Bill said.

"She better," McGonagall said glaring at Umbridge who shrank back in her chair.

**this would mean another couple of sleepless nights. It did not seem possible that she had awoken that morning feeling very happy. All she felt now was a fervent desire for this day to end.**

**"Maybe I'll skive off Divination," she said glumly, as they stood in the courtyard after lunch, the wind whipping at the hems of robes and brims of hats. "I'll pretend to be ill and do Snape's essay instead, then I won't have to stay up half the night."**

**"You can't skive off Divination," said Hermione severely.**

"You're one to talk." Sirius said.

"I know," Hermione said with a blush.

**"Hark who's talking, you walked out of Divination, you hate Trelawney!" said Ron indignantly.**

"Hmm, I think like Ron, or Ron thinks like me." Sirius said.

"I don't know if that's a good or bad thing." Robin said with a smile. Sirius turned to her and mock glared.

**"I don't hate her," said Hermione loftily. "I just think she's an absolutely appalling teacher and a real old fraud. **

"That's just a nice way of saying that you hate her." Kit said.

**But Cris' already missed History of Magic and I don't think she ought to miss anything else today!"**

"But all she does is predict her death." Remus said.

**There was too much truth in this to ignore, so half an hour later Cris took her seat in the hot, overperfumed atmosphere of the Divination classroom, feeling angry at everybody. Professor Trelawney was yet again handing out copies of The Dream Oracle. Cris thought she'd surely be much better employed doing Snape's punishment essay than sitting here trying to find meaning in a lot of made-up dreams.**

**It seemed, however, that she was not the only person in Divination who was in a temper. **

"So she got her results back." Charlie said.

"Well this should make for a fun class." Bill said.

**Professor Trelawney slammed a copy of the Oracle down on the table between Cris and Ron and swept away, her lips pursed; she threw the next copy of the Oracle at Seamus and Dean, narrowly avoiding Seamus's head, and thrust the final one into Neville's chest with such force that he slipped off his pouffe.**

**"Well, carry on!" said Professor Trelawney loudly, her voice high-pitched and somewhat hysterical, "you know what to do! Or am I such a sub-standard teacher that you have never learned how to open a book?"**

**The class stared perplexedly at her, then at each other. Cris, however, thought she knew what was the matter. As Professor Trelawney flounced back to the high-backed teacher's chair, her magnified eyes full of angry tears, she leaned her head closer to Ron's and muttered, "I think she's got the results of her inspection back."**

**"Professor?" said Parvati Patil in a hushed voice (she and Lavender had always rather admired Professor Trelawney). "Professor, is there anything - er - wrong?"**

**"Wrong!" cried Professor Trelawney in a voice throbbing with emotion. "Certainly not! I have been insulted, certainly… insinuations have been made against me… unfounded accusations leveled… but no, there is nothing wrong, certainly not!"**

"Sounds like something Cris would say." Hermione said.

"I'm not that bad am I?" Cris asked.

"You can be sometimes." Ron said.

**She took a great shuddering breath and looked away from Parvati, angry tears spilling from under her glasses.**

**"I say nothing," she choked, "of sixteen years of devoted service… it has passed, apparently, unnoticed… but I shall not be insulted, no, I shall not!"**

**"But, Professor, who's insulting you?" asked Parvati timidly.**

**"The Establishment!" said Professor Trelawney, in a deep, dramatic, wavering voice.**

"So Umbitch," Tonks said.

"Tonks!" Mrs. Weasley cried.

"What, it's true," Tonks said with a shrug.

**"Yes, those with eyes too clouded by the mundane to See as I See, to Know as I Know… of course, we Seers have always been feared, always persecuted… it is - alas -our fate."**

**She gulped, dabbed at her wet cheeks with the end of her shawl, then she pulled a small embroidered handkerchief from her sleeve, and blew her nose very hard with a sound like Peeves blowing a raspberry.**

**Ron sniggered. Lavender shot him a disgusted look.**

**"Professor," said Parvati, "do you mean… is it something Professor Umbridge -?"**

**"Do not speak to me about that woman!" cried Professor Trelawney, leaping to her feet, her beads rattling and her spectacles flashing. "Kindly continue with your work!"**

**And she spent the rest of the lesson striding among them, tears still leaking from behind her glasses, muttering what sounded like threats under her breath.**

**"… may well choose to leave… the indignity of it… on probation… we shall see… how she dares…"**

"I'd like to see what she does to the toad." Ginny whispered to Neville who nodded his head in agreement.

**"You and Umbridge have got something in common," Cris told Hermione quietly when they met again in Defense Against the Dark Arts. "She obviously reckons Trelawney's an old fraud, too… looks like she's put her on probation."**

**Umbridge entered the room as she spoke, wearing her black velvet bow and an expression of great smugness.**

**"Good afternoon, class."**

**"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge," they chanted dully.**

**"Wands away, please."**

**But there was no answering flurry of movement this time; nobody had bothered to take out their wands.**

**"Please turn to page thirty-four of Defensive Magical Theory and read the third chapter, entitled 'Case for Non-Offensive Responses to Magical Attack'. There will be -"**

**"- no need to talk," Cris, Ron and Hermione said together, under their breaths.**

**"No Quidditch practice," said Angelina in hollow tones when Cris, Ron and Hermione entered the common room after dinner that night.**

"Damnit," Charlie swore.

"She can't do that, can she?" Kit asked.

"It appears she can." Moony said.

**"But I kept my temper!" said Cris, horrified. "I didn't say anything to her, Angelina, I swear, I -"**

**"I know, I know," said Angelina miserably. "She just said she needed a bit of time to consider."**

"You're just prejudice," Robin said. Umbridge turned to her and glared but Robin simply stared back at her. "You don't scare me, I've seen much scarier than you." Sirius smiled and kissed his fiancé right then.

**"Consider what?" said Ron angrily. "She's given the Slytherins permission, why not us?"**

**But Cris could imagine how much Umbridge was enjoying holding the threat of no Gryffindor Quidditch team over their heads and could easily understand why she would not want to relinquish that weapon over them too soon.**

**"Well," said Hermione, "look on the bright side - at least now you'll have time to do Snape's essay!"**

"That's a bright side?" Tonks asked.

"It'll just make Cris more miserable, flying clears her head." Sirius said.

"That it does," Cris said happy her godfather knew her so well.

**"That's a bright side, is it?" snapped Cris, while Ron stared incredulously at Hermione. "No Quidditch practice, and extra Potions?"**

**Cris slumped down into a chair, dragged her Potions essay reluctantly from her bag and set to work. It was very hard to concentrate; even though she knew Sirius was not due in the fire until much later, she could not help glancing into the flames every few minutes just in case. There was also an incredible amount of noise in the room: Fred and George appeared finally to have perfected one type of Skiving Snackbox, which they were taking turns to demonstrate to a cheering and whooping crowd.**

**First, Fred would take a bite out of the orange end of a chew, at which he would vomit spectacularly into a bucket they had placed in front of them. Then he would force down the purple end of the chew, at which the vomiting would immediately cease. Lee Jordan, who was assisting the demonstration, was lazily Vanishing the vomit at regular intervals with the same Vanishing Spell Snape kept using on Cris' potions.**

"That's really impressive." Dumbledore said.

"But it's dangerous!" Mrs. Weasley screeched.

"We knew what we were doing." Fred said.

**What with the regular sounds of retching, cheering and the sound of Fred and George taking advance orders from the crowd, Cris was finding it exceptionally difficult to focus on the correct method for Strengthening Solution. Hermione was not helping matters; the cheers and the sound of vomit hitting the bottom of Fred and George's bucket were punctuated by her loud and disapproving sniffs, which Cris found, if anything, more distracting.**

**"Just go and stop them, then!" she said irritably, after crossing out the wrong weight of powdered griffin claw for the fourth time.**

"They aren't breaking any rules though." Remus said.

**"I can't, they're not technically doing anything wrong," said Hermione through gritted teeth.**

**"They're quite within their rights to eat the foul things themselves and I can't find a rule that says the other idiots aren't entitled to buy them, not unless they're proven to be dangerous in some way and it doesn't look as though they are."**

"Just make sure they won't hurt anyone." Mrs. Weasley said.

"We've already perfected it." George said.

"Good,"

**She, Cris and Ron watched George projectile-vomit into the bucket, gulp down the rest of the chew and straighten up, beaming with his arms wide to protracted applause.**

**"You know, I don't get why Fred and George only got three OWLs each," said Cris, watching as Fred, George and Lee collected gold from the eager crowd. "They really know their stuff."**

"Now that would be telling." Fred said.

"Mum knows now." Lily J said.

"So that means you told me." Cris said with a smile.

"Why wouldn't we?" George asked kissing her cheek.

**"Oh, they only know flashy stuff that's of no real use to anyone," said Hermione disparagingly.**

**"No real use?" said Ron in a strained voice. "Hermione, they've made about twenty-six Galleons already."**

"It is a success, like we said." James said with a smile.

**It was a long while before the crowd around the Weasley twins dispersed, then Fred, Lee and George sat up counting their takings even longer, so it was well past midnight when Cris, Ron and Hermione finally had the common room to themselves. At long last, Fred had closed the doorway to the boys' dormitories behind him, rattling his box of Galleons ostentatiously so that Hermione scowled. **

**Cris, who was making very little progress with her Potions essay, decided to give it up for the night. As she put her books away, Ron, who was dozing lightly in an armchair, gave a muffled grunt, awoke, and looked blearily into the fire.**

**"Sirius!" he said.**

"Good, you're there." Lily said.

**Cris whipped round. Sirius's untidy dark head was sitting in the fire again.**

**"Hi," he said, grinning.**

**"Hi," chorused Cris, Ron and Hermione, all three kneeling down on the hearthrug. Crookshanks purred loudly and approached the fire, trying, despite the heat, to put his face close to Sirius's.**

**"How're things?" said Sirius.**

**"Not that good," said Cris, as Hermione pulled Crookshanks back to stop him singeing his whiskers. "The Ministry's forced through another decree, which means we're not allowed to have Quidditch teams -"**

**"Or secret Defense Against the Dark Arts groups?" said Sirius.**

"How did you know?" Prongs asked shocked.

"You'll see," Sirius said with a grin.

**There was a short pause.**

**"How did you know about that?" Cris demanded.**

**"You want to choose your meeting places more carefully," said Sirius, grinning still more broadly. "The Hog's Head, I ask you."**

**"Well, it was better than the Three Broomsticks!" said Hermione defensively. "That's always packed with people -"**

"That is exactly why it's a perfect meeting spot; nobody will pay attention to you in there." Remus said.

**"Which means you'd have been harder to overhear," said Sirius. "You've got a lot to learn, Hermione."**

**"Who overheard us?" Cris demanded.**

**"Mundungus, of course," said Sirius, and when they all looked puzzled he laughed. "He was the witch under the veil." **

"Well that rules out that one. But how did Umbridge find out?" Padfoot asked.

"That I don't have an answer for." Remus said.

**"That was Mundungus?" Cris said, stunned. "What was he doing in the Hog's Head?"**

**"What do you think he was doing?" said Sirius impatiently. "Keeping an eye on you, of course."**

**"I'm still being followed?" asked Cris angrily.**

**"Yeah, you are," said Sirius, "and just as well, isn't it, if the first thing you're going to do on your weekend off is organize an illegal defense group."**

"You sound proud." Lily said.

"Why shouldn't I be? She may not be pulling pranks but doing the exact opposite of what the Minister wants isn't bad." Sirius said.

**But he looked neither angry nor worried. On the contrary, he was looking at Cris with distinct pride.**

**"Why was Dung hiding from us?" asked Ron, sounding disappointed. "We'd've liked to've seen him."**

**"He was banned from the Hog's Head twenty years ago," said Sirius,**

"Why was he banned?" Charlie asked.

"You know, I have no idea." Sirius said.

**"and that barman's got a long memory. We lost Moody's spare Invisibility Cloak when Sturgis was arrested, so Dung's been dressing as a witch a lot lately…**

"Poor Dung, almost makes me feel sorry for him." Prongs said.

"Almost?" Cris asked.

"Yeah, he left you alone when was supposed to be watching." Prongs said.

**anyway… first of all, Ron - I've sworn to pass on a message from your mother."**

**"Oh yeah?" said Ron, sounding apprehensive.**

**"She says on no account whatsoever are you to take part in an illegal secret Defense Against the ark Arts group. She says you'll be expelled for sure and your future will be ruined. She says there will be plenty of time to learn how to defend yourself later and that you are too young to be worrying about that right now. She also" (Sirius's eyes turned to the other two) "advises Cris and Hermione not to proceed with the group, though she accepts that she has no authority over either of them and simply begs them to remember that she has their best interests at heart. She would have written all this to you, but if the owl had been intercepted you'd all have been in real trouble, and she can't say it for herself because she's on duty tonight." **

"Sirius!" Mrs. Weasley screeched.

"Sorry," Sirius said though he didn't really sound sorry.

**"On duty doing what?" said Ron quickly.**

**"Never you mind, just stuff for the Order," said Sirius. "So it's fallen to me to be the messenger and make sure you tell her I passed it all on, because I don't think she trusts me to."**

**There was another pause in which Crookshanks, mewing, attempted to paw Sirius's head, and Ron fiddled with a hole in the hearthrug.**

**"So, you want me to say I'm not going to take part in the Defense group?" he muttered finally.**

**"Me? Certainly not!" said Sirius, looking surprised. "I think it's an excellent idea!"**

"Of course it is, they need to learn to defend themselves even if they aren't being taught by a teacher." Robin said.

"But they are only children." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Yes, and Cris got kidnapped by Voldemort right underneath Dumbledore's nose, who's to say that it won't happen again, or he will attack the school." Remus said. Mrs. Weasley looked frightened at the thought, the school is the one safe place, if Death Eaters or Voldemort took over the kids will have to defend themselves.

**"You do?" said Cris, his heart lifting.**

**"Of course I do!" said Sirius. "D'you think your father and I would've lain down and taken orders from an old hag like Umbridge?"**

**"But - last term all you did was tell me to be careful and not take risks -"**

**"Last year, all the evidence was that someone inside Hogwarts was trying to kill you, Cris!" said Sirius impatiently. "This year, we know there's someone outside Hogwarts who'd like to kill us all, so I think learning to defend yourselves properly is a very good idea!"**

**"And if we do get expelled?" Hermione asked, a quizzical look on her face.**

"Um, it was your idea in the first place." Padfoot said.

"That doesn't mean I wasn't worried about being expelled." Hermione said.

**"Hermione, this whole thing was your idea!" said Cris, staring at her.**

**"I know it was. I just wondered what Sirius thought," she said, shrugging.**

**"Well, better expelled and able to defend yourselves than sitting safely in school without a clue," said Sirius.**

"That is sadly true," Charlie said.

**"Hear, hear," said Cris and Ron enthusiastically.**

**"So," said Sirius, "how are you organizing this group? Where are you meeting?"**

**"Well, that's a bit of a problem now," said Cris. "Dunno where we're going to be able to go."**

**"How about the Shrieking Shack?" suggested Sirius. **

"That's a bit too small for their group." Remus said.

"I didn't know how many people were in it." Sirius said with a shrug.

**"Hey, that's an idea!" said Ron excitedly, but Hermione made a skeptical noise and all three of them looked at her, Sirius's head turning in the flames.**

**"Well, Sirius, it's just that there were only four of you meeting in the Shrieking Shack when you were at school," said Hermione, "and all of you could transform into animals and I suppose you could all have squeezed under a single Invisibility Cloak if you'd wanted to. But there are twenty-eight of us and none of us is an Animagus, so we wouldn't need so much an Invisibility Cloak as an Invisibility Marquee -"**

**"Fair point," said Sirius, looking slightly crestfallen. "Well, I'm sure you'll come up with somewhere. There used to be a pretty roomy secret passageway behind that big mirror on the fourth floor, you might have enough space to practice jinxes in there."**

**"Fred and George told me it's blocked," said Cris, shaking her head. "Caved in or something."**

"That sucks," the marauders said.

**"Oh…" said Sirius, frowning. "Well, I'll have a think and get back to -"**

"So you have no idea where we're meeting?" Cris asked.

"So you did find a place?" Sirius asked.

"We did," Hermione said.

"Where?" Robin asked.

"If you don't know than we won't tell you until we find it in the book." Cris said.

**He broke off. His face was suddenly tense, alarmed. He turned sideways, apparently looking into the solid brick wall of the fireplace.**

"Wait, what happened?" Padfoot asked.

**"Sirius?" said Cris anxiously.**

**But he had vanished. Cris gaped at the flames for a moment, then turned to look at Ron and Hermione.**

**"Why did he -?"**

**Hermione gave a horrified gasp and leapt to her feet, still staring at the fire.**

**A hand had appeared amongst the flames, groping as though to catch hold of something; a stubby, short-fingered hand covered in ugly old-fashioned rings.**

"Great, she knows." Padfoot said.

"But that means that Cris can't talk to Padfoot anymore." Prongs said.

"How could you do that!?" Lily shrieked at the toad.

"She's evil, that's how." Moony said.

**The three of them ran for it. At the door of the boys' dormitory Cris looked back. Umbridge's hand was still making snatching movements amongst the flames, as though she knew exactly where Sirius's hair had been moments before and was determined to seize it.**

"That's the end of the chapter." Scarlett said. She looked at her dad from her seat next to James then got up and handed it to her mum.

"Well there goes that way of communication." Lily said sadly.

"She needs the mirror." Prongs said.

"What mirror?" Cris asked.

"It's the gift I gave you for Christmas." Sirius said.

"What does it do?" Cris asked.

"It's a way of communication." Moony said.

"Cool," Cris said.

"Can I start now?" Robin asked. Cris nodded and Robin started the next chapter.


	20. Chapter 18: Dumbledore's Army

"**Chapter 18: Dumbledore's Army," **Robin read.

"What army?" Fudge asked wide eyed.

"I assure, I don't have an army, perhaps it is just the name of the Defense group they created." Dumbledore said. Cris looked at the others members and smiled.

**"****Umbridge has been reading your mail, Cris. There's no other explanation."**

**"****You think Umbridge attacked Hedwig?" she said, outraged.**

**"****I'm almost certain of it," said Hermione grimly. "Watch your frog, it's escaping."**

"So you're in charms." Lily said with a smile.

**Cris pointed her wand at the bullfrog that had been hopping hopefully towards the other side of the table - "Accio!" - and it zoomed gloomily back into her hand.**

"You're brilliant at that spell." Sirius said.

"As well as the Patronus." Remus said.

**Charms was always one of the best lessons in which to enjoy a private chat; there was generally so much movement and activity that the danger of being overheard was very slight.**

"You should have thought about that before the meeting." Sirius said.

"I know," Hermione said with a blush.

**Today, with the room full of croaking bullfrogs and cawing ravens, and with a heavy downpour of rain clattering and pounding against the classroom windows, Cris, Ron and Hermione's whispered discussion about how Umbridge had nearly caught Sirius went quite unnoticed.**

**"****I've been suspecting this ever since Filch accused you of ordering Dungbombs, because it seemed such a stupid lie," Hermione whispered. "I mean, once your letter had been read it would have been quite clear you weren't ordering them, so you wouldn't have been in trouble at all - it's a bit of a feeble joke, isn't it? But then I thought, what if somebody just wanted an excuse to read your mail? Well then, it would be a perfect way for Umbridge to manage it - tip off Filch, let him do the dirty work and confiscate the letter, then either find a way of stealing it from him or else demand to see it - I don't think Filch would object, when's he ever stuck up for a student's rights? **

"Never," the group said.

**Cris, you're squashing your frog."**

**Cris looked down; she was indeed squeezing her bullfrog so tightly its eyes were popping; she replaced it hastily upon the desk.**

"Too bad it's not the toad." Bill said.

"Yeah, too bad." Cris said.

**"****It was a very, very close call last night," said Hermione. "I just wonder if Umbridge knows how close it was. Silencio."**

**The bullfrog on which she was practicing her Silencing Charm was struck dumb mid-croak and glared at her reproachfully.**

**"****If she'd caught Snuffles -"**

**Cris finished the sentence for her.**

**"****- He'd probably be back in Azkaban this morning." She waved her wand without really concentrating; her bullfrog swelled like a green balloon and emitted a high-pitched whistle.**

"That's not supposed to happen." Lily said.

"You need to concentrate." Kit said.

"It just said I wasn't concentrating." Cris said with a smirk.

**"****Silencio!" said Hermione hastily, pointing her wand at Cris' frog, which deflated silently before them. "Well, he mustn't do it again, that's all. I just don't know how we're going to let him know. We can't send him an owl."**

**"****I don't reckon he'll risk it again," said Ron. "He's not stupid, he knows she nearly got him. Silencio."**

**The large and ugly raven in front of him let out a derisive caw.**

**"****Silencio. SILENCIO!"**

"Yelling at it won't solve anything." Remus said.

"I know," Ron said.

**The raven cawed more loudly.**

**"****It's the way you're moving your wand," said Hermione, watching Ron critically, "you don't want to wave it, it's more a sharp jab."**

"Déjà vu," Charlie said.

"It truly was." Cris said with a laugh.

**"****Ravens are harder than frogs," said Ron through clenched teeth.**

"It shouldn't matter." Lily J said.

**"Fine, let's swap," said Hermione, seizing Ron's raven and replacing it with her own fat bullfrog.**

**"****Silencio!" The raven continued to open and close its sharp beak, but no sound came out.**

**"****Very good, Miss Granger!" said Professor Flitwick's squeaky little voice, making Cris, Ron and Hermione all jump. "Now, let me see you try, Mr. Weasley."**

**"****Wha—? Oh - oh, right," said Ron, very flustered. "Er - silencio!"**

**He jabbed at the bullfrog so hard he poked it in the eye: the frog gave a deafening croak and leapt off the desk.**

**It came as no surprise to any of them that Cris and Ron were given additional practice of the Silencing Charm for homework.**

**They were allowed to remain inside over break due to the downpour outside. They found seats in a noisy and overcrowded classroom on the first floor in which Peeves was floating dreamily up near the chandelier, occasionally blowing an ink pellet at the top of somebody's head. They had barely sat down when Angelina came struggling towards them through the groups of gossiping students.**

**"****I've got permission!" she said. "To re-form the Quidditch team!"**

"Yes!" cried the fanatics.

**"****Excellent!" said Ron and Cris together.**

**"****Yeah," said Angelina, beaming. "I went to McGonagall and I think she might have appealed to Dumbledore. Anyway, Umbridge had to give in. Ha!**

"That's one way to go about it." Charlie said.

"Well Umbitch was being unfair," Prongs said glaring at the toad in the room.

**So I want you down at the pitch at seven o'clock tonight, all right, because we've got to make up time. You realize we're only three weeks away from our first match?"**

"You're pushing it a little." Prongs said.

"Don't worry dad, we managed." Cris said.

**She squeezed away from them, narrowly dodged an ink pellet from Peeves, which hit a nearby first-year instead, and vanished from sight.**

**Ron's smile slipped slightly as he looked out of the window, which was now opaque with hammering rain.**

**"****Hope this clears up. What's up with you, Hermione?"**

**She, too, was gazing at the window, but not as though she really saw it. Her eyes were unfocused and there was a frown on her face.**

**"****Just thinking…" she said, still frowning at the rain-washed window.**

**"****About Siri— Snuffles?" said Cris.**

"Good catch," Sirius said.

"I know," Cris said.

**"****No… not exactly…" said Hermione slowly. "More… wondering… I suppose we're doing the right thing… I think… aren't we?"**

"Yes, you're right, you need to learn defense." Charlie said.

"I was just worrying." Hermione said.

**Cris and Ron looked at each other.**

**"****Well, that clears that up," said Ron. "It would've been really annoying if you hadn't explained yourself properly."**

**Hermione looked at him as though she had only just realized he was there.**

"That was annoying." Ron said.

"Sorry," Hermione said kissing his cheek.

**"****I was just wondering," she said, her voice stronger now, "whether we're doing the right thing, starting this Defense Against the Dark Arts group."**

**"****What?" said Cris and Ron together.**

**"****Hermione, it was your idea in the first place!" said Ron indignantly.**

**"I know," said Hermione, twisting her fingers together. "But after talking to Snuffles…"**

**"****But he's all for it," said Cris.**

**"****Yes," said Hermione, staring at the window again. "Yes, that's what made me think maybe it wasn't a good idea after all…"**

"Oi! So now you don't have want to because I said it was a good idea?" Sirius asked.

"Well, you can be rash." Robin said.

"I thought it was a good idea." Cris said.

"Of course you would." Ginny said.

**Peeves floated over them on his stomach, peashooter at the ready; automatically all three of them lifted their bags to cover their heads until he had passed.**

**"****Let's get this straight," said Cris angrily, as they put their bags back on the floor, "Sirius agrees with us, so you don't think we should do it anymore?"**

**Hermione looked tense and rather miserable. Now staring at her own hands, she said, "Do you honestly trust his judgment?"**

**"****Yes, I do!" said Cris at once. "He's always given us great advice!"**

"Good, fight Prongslet." Padfoot said proudly.

**An ink pellet whizzed past them, striking Katie Bell squarely in the ear. Hermione watched Katie leap to her feet and start throwing things at Peeves; it was a few moments before Hermione spoke again and it sounded as though she was choosing her words very carefully.**

**"****You don't think he has become… sort of… reckless… since he's been cooped up in Grimmauld Place? You don't think he's… kind of… living through us?"**

Sirius flinched and Hermione looked over at him sadly.

"I'm sorry Sirius, I was just worried." Hermione said.

"I know, I admit I was sick of being stuck somewhere not being able to go anywhere I may have been living through you." Sirius said.

"I'm okay with that." Cris said. Sirius laughed and beckoned Cris over to him. She did and he hugged her to him and kissed her head.

"Thank you pup," Sirius said.

**"****What d'you mean, 'through us'?" Cris retorted.**

**"****I mean… well, I think he'd love to be forming secret Defense societies right under the nose of someone from the Ministry…**

"I would, but I just wanted you kids to learn so you could defend yourself." Sirius said.

"I didn't think about that." Hermione said.

**I think he's really frustrated at how little he can do where he is… so I think he's keen to kind of… egg us on."**

"I'd always egg you on. If it's the right thing to do, and this is the right thing to do." Sirius said.

"I know Siri," Cris said hugging him tighter.

**Ron looked utterly perplexed.**

**"****Sirius is right," he said, "you do sound just like my mother."**

Hermione glared at Ron, who smiled sheepishly at her.

"Well they say that guys marry the girl who reminds them of their mother and girls marry guys who remind them of their father." Gwen said.

"That actually makes some sense in some relationships anyway." Lily J said looking at her parents and at her aunt and uncle.

**Hermione bit her lip and did not answer. The bell rang just as Peeves swooped down on Katie and emptied an entire ink bottle over her head.**

"Poor Katie," Cris said.

"No kidding,"

**The weather did not improve as the day wore on, so that at seven o'clock that evening, when Cris and Ron went down to the Quidditch pitch for practice, they were soaked through within minutes, their feet slipping and sliding on the sodden grass. The sky was a deep, thundery grey and it was a relief to gain the warmth and light of the changing rooms, even if they knew the respite was only temporary. They found Fred and George debating whether to use one of their own Skiving Snackboxes to get out of flying. **

"Skive off Quidditch? Are you bloody insane?" Prongs asked.

"No, we just,"

"Didn't want,"

"To practice in the rain."

"I hear ya," Cris and Ron said.

**"… ****but I bet she'd know what we'd done," Fred said out of the corner of his mouth. "If only I hadn't offered to sell her some Puking Pastilles yesterday."**

**"****We could try the Fever Fudge," George muttered, "no one's seen that yet -"**

**"****Does it work?" enquired Ron hopefully, as the hammering of rain on the roof intensified and wind howled around the building.**

**"****Well, yeah," said Fred, "your temperature'll go right up."**

**"****But you get these massive pus-filled boils, too," said George, "and we haven't worked out how to get rid of them yet."**

"Ouch," Bill said.

**"****I can't see any boils," said Ron, staring at the, twins. Cris had to admit, she couldn't see any boils on them. **

**"****No, well, you wouldn't," said Fred darkly, "they're not in a place we generally display to the public."**

**"****But they make sitting on a broom a right pain in the -"**

"Okay, we so didn't need to know that." Charlie said.

"It was very uncomfortable!" the twins said.

"Stop talking about it." Cris said.

**"All right, everyone, listen up," said Angelina loudly, emerging from the Captain's office. "I know it's not ideal weather, but there's a chance we'll be playing Slytherin in conditions like this so it's a good idea to work out how we're going to cope with them. Cris, didn't you do something to your glasses to stop the rain fogging them up when we played Hufflepuff in that storm?'**

Cris shuddered at the memory of that.

**"****Hermione did it," said Cris. She pulled out her wand, tapped her goggles and said, "Impervius!"**

**"****I think we all ought to try that," said Angelina. "If we could just keep the rain off our faces it would really help visibility - all together, come on - Impervius! okay. Let's go."**

**They all stowed their wands back in the inside pockets of their robes, shouldered their brooms and followed Angelina out of the changing rooms.**

**They squelched through the deepening mud to the middle of the pitch; visibility was still very poor even with the Impervius Charm; **

"Well it can't make the weather stop." Lily said.

"I know that mum," Cris said.

**light was fading fast and curtains of rain were sweeping the grounds.**

**"****All right, on my whistle," shouted Angelina.**

**Cris kicked off from the ground, spraying mud in all directions, and shot upwards, the wind pulling her slightly off course.**

**She had no idea how she was going to see the Snitch in this weather; she was having enough difficulty seeing the one Bludger with which they were practicing; a minute into the practice it almost unseated her and she had to use the Sloth Grip Roll to avoid it. Unfortunately, Angelina did not see this. In fact, she did not appear to be able to see anything; none of them had a clue what the others were doing. The wind was picking up; even at a distance Cris could hear the swishing, pounding sounds of the rain pummeling the surface of the lake.**

"Okay, she really should have cancelled practice." Mrs. Weasley said.

"For once, I agree." Prongs said.

**Angelina kept them at it for nearly an hour before conceding defeat. She led her sodden and disgruntled team back into the changing rooms, insisting that the practice had not been a waste of time, though without any real conviction in her voice. Fred and George were looking particularly annoyed; both were bandy-legged and winced with every movement. Cris could hear them complaining in low voices as she toweled her hair dry.**

**"****I think a few of mine have ruptured," said Fred in a hollow voice.**

**"****Mine haven't," said George, through clenched teeth, "they're throbbing like mad… feel bigger if anything."**

"Don't talk about stuff like that around girls." Bill said.

"Well seeing as most of the team is girls and the only other boy is our brother it's kind of hard to avoid." Fred said.

"I can give you that." Charlie said.

**"****OUCH!" said Cris.**

**She pressed the towel to her face, her eyes screwed tight with pain. The scar on her forehead had seared again, more painfully than it had in weeks. **

"We heard you yell out but we didn't know why." Fred said.

"Well now you know." Cris mumbled.

"Don't talk like that; you never know what would happen because of it." Sirius said.

**"****What's up?" said several voices.**

**Cris emerged from behind her towel; the changing room was blurred because she was not wearing her contacts, but she could still tell that everyone's face was turned towards her.**

**"****Nothing," she muttered, "I - poked myself in the eye, that's all."**

"Did you really think that would work?" Ron asked.

"I was hoping." Cris said.

**But she gave Ron a significant look and the two of them hung back as the rest of the team filed back outside, muffled in their cloaks, their hats pulled low over their ears. **

"So Ron knew what was going on right away?" Fred asked.

"I wasn't too keen on telling anyone else just yet." Cris said.

"I don't blame you." George said.

**"****What happened?" said Ron, the moment Alicia had disappeared through the door. "Was it your scar?"**

**Cris nodded.**

**"****But…" looking scared, Ron strode across to the window and stared out into the rain, "he - he can't be near us now, can he?"**

"I highly doubt it." Lily said though she sounded unsure.

"He wasn't near us." Cris said.

"Good," Lily said.

**"****No," Cris muttered, sinking on to a bench and rubbing her forehead. "He's probably miles away. It hurt because… he's… angry."**

**Cris had not meant to say that at all, and heard the words as though a stranger had spoken them - yet knew at once that they were true. She did not know how she knew it, but she did; Voldemort, wherever he was, whatever he was doing, was in a towering temper.**

**"****Did you see him?" said Ron, looking horrified. "Did you… get a vision, or something?"**

**Cris sat quite still, staring at her feet, allowing her mind and her memory to relax in the aftermath of the pain.**

**A confused tangle of shapes, a howling rush of voices…**

**"He wants something done, and it's not happening fast enough," she said.**

The members of the Order stiffened at that. All of them looked at each in worry until Dumbledore nodded at Robin to continue reading.

**Again, she felt surprised to hear the words coming out of her mouth, and yet was quite certain they were true.**

**"****But… how do you know?" said Ron.**

**Cris shook her head and covered her eyes with her hands, pressing down upon them with her palms. Little stars erupted in them. She felt Ron sit down on the bench beside her and knew Ron was staring at her.**

**"****Is this what it was about last time?" said Ron in a hushed voice. "When your scar hurt in Umbridge's office? You-Know-Who was angry?"**

**Cris shook her head.**

**"****What is it, then?"**

**Cris was thinking herself back. She had been looking into Umbridge's face… her scar had hurt… and she had had that odd feeling in her stomach… a strange, leaping feeling… a happy feeling… but of course, she had not recognized it for what it was, as she had been feeling so miserable herself…**

**"****Last time, it was because he was pleased," she said. "Really pleased.**

"That's a terrifying thought." George said.

"You have no idea." Ron said. Fred and George looked over at their younger brother; he was pale as they read this part. He and Cris were very close friends, and they didn't want anything to happen to their friendship like what happened last year.

**She thought… something good was going to happen. And the night before we came back to Hogwarts…" she thought back to the moment when her scar had hurt so badly in her and Ron's bedroom in Grimmauld Place… "he was furious."**

**She looked round at Ron, who was gaping at her.**

**"****You could take over from Trelawney, mate," he said in an awed voice.**

"No, I'm just reading his emotions, not really foretelling the future, that's your thing, though you unknowingly do it." Cris said.

"I do?" Ron asked.

"Yep," Cris and Hermione said.

**"****I'm not making prophecies," said Cris.**

**"****No, you know what you're doing?" Ron said, sounding both scared and impressed. "Cris, you're reading You-Know-Who's mind!"**

"I think it might be a bit of both mind and emotion." Dumbledore said.

"Is that why I need the extra lessons, so that he won't know that I see into his mind?" Cris asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid that is the answer Cris." Dumbledore said.

"What lessons?" her younger parents asked.

"You'll find out later." Cris said.

**"****No," said Cris, shaking her head. "It's more like… his mood, I suppose. I'm just getting flashes of what mood he's in. Dumbledore said something like this was happening last year. He said that when Voldemort was near me, or when he was feeling hatred, I could tell. Well, now I'm feeling it when he's pleased, too…"**

"That's not a good thing." Remus muttered.

**There was a pause. The wind and rain lashed at the building.**

**"****You've got to tell someone," said Ron.**

**"****I told Sirius last time."**

**"****Well, tell him about this time!"**

**"****Can't, can I?" said Cris grimly. "Umbridge is watching the owls and the fires, remember?"**

"I should have given you the mirror earlier." Sirius said.

"We worked it out." Cris said.

"That's good," Sirius said.

**"****Well then, Dumbledore."**

**"I've just told you, he already knows," said Cris shortly, getting to her feet, taking her cloak off her peg and swinging it around her. "There's no point telling him again." **

"You still should have told him, Cris." Mrs. Weasley said.

**Ron did up the fastening of his own cloak, watching Cris thoughtfully.**

**"****Dumbledore'd want to know," he said.**

**Cris shrugged.**

**"****C'mon… we've still got Silencing Charms to practice."**

**They hurried back through the dark grounds, sliding and stumbling up the muddy lawns, not talking. Cris was thinking hard. What was it that Voldemort wanted done that was not happening quickly enough? "… he's got other plans… plans he can put into operation very quietly indeed… stuff he can only get by stealth… like a weapon. Something he didn't have last time."**

**Cris had not thought about those words in weeks; she had been too absorbed in what was going on at Hogwarts, too busy dwelling on the ongoing battles with Umbridge, the injustice of all the Ministry interference… but now they came back to her and made her wonder… Voldemort's anger would make sense if he was no nearer to laying hands on the weapon, whatever it was.**

**Had the Order thwarted him, stopped him from seizing it? Where was it kept? Who had it now?**

"Good thinking lass," Moody said.

"Don't encourage her. They are too young to be in the Order." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Potter has the right to know since Voldemort is after her." Moody said.

"We will discuss this later." Dumbledore said. Cris looked disappointed as Robin began reading again.

**"****Mimbulus mimbletonia," said Ron's voice and Cris came back to her senses just in time to clamber through the portrait hole into the common room.**

**It appeared that Hermione had gone to bed early, leaving Crookshanks curled in a nearby chair and an assortment of knobbly knitted elf hats lying on a table by the fire. Cris was rather grateful that she was not around, because she did not much want to discuss her scar hurting and have her urge her to go to Dumbledore, too. Ron kept throwing her anxious glances, but Cris pulled out her Charms books and set to work on finishing her essay, though she was only pretending to concentrate and by the time Ron said he was going up to bed, too, she had written hardly anything.**

**Midnight came and went while Cris was reading and rereading a passage about the uses of scurvy-grass, lovage and sneezewort and not taking in a word of it.**

"Just go to bed." Lily said.

"I do, eventually." Cris said.

**These plants are most efficacious in the inflaming of the brain, and are therefore much used in Confusing and Befuddlement Draughts, where the wizard is desirous of producing hot-headedness and recklessness…**

… **Hermione said Sirius was becoming reckless cooped up in Grimmauld Place…**

… **most efficacious in the inflaming of the brain, and are therefore much used…**

"You're not concentrating, just go to sleep." Mrs. Weasley said.

… **the Daily Prophet would think her brain was inflamed if they found out that she knew what Voldemort was feeling…**

… **therefore much used in Confusing and Befuddlement Draughts…**

… **confusing was the word, all right; why did she know what Voldemort was feeling? What was this weird connection between them, which Dumbledore had never been able to explain satisfactorily?**

… **where the wizard is desirous…**

… **how Cris would like to sleep…**

… **producing hot-headedness…**

… **it was warm and comfortable in her armchair before the fire, with the rain still beating heavily on the windowpanes, Crookshanks purring, and the crackling of the flames…**

**The book slipped from Cris' slack grip and landed with a dull thud on the hearthrug. Her head rolled sideways…**

**She was walking once more along a windowless corridor, her footsteps echoing in the silence. As the door at the end of the passage loomed larger, her heart beat fast with excitement… if she could only open it… enter beyond… She stretched out her hand… her fingertips were inches from it…**

**"****Cristal Potter, miss!"**

"It's Dobby!" Prongs cried.

"You fell asleep by the fire." Lily said.

"I've done that once." Prongs said.

"Somehow, I'm not surprised." Lily said with a smile.

**She awoke with a start. The candles had all been extinguished in the common room, but there was something moving close by.**

**"****Whozair?" said Cris, sitting upright in her chair. The fire was almost out, the room very dark.**

**"****Dobby has your owl, miss!" said a squeaky voice.**

**"****Dobby?" said Cris thickly, peering through the gloom towards the source of the voice.**

**Dobby the house-elf was standing beside the table on which Hermione had left half a dozen of her knitted hats. His large, pointed ears were now sticking out from beneath what looked like all the hats Hermione had ever knitted;**

"Dobby took the hats! Why didn't you tell me?" Hermione asked.

"I didn't want to hurt your feelings." Cris said. Hermione smiled and shook her head.

**he was wearing one on top of the other, so that his head seemed elongated by two or three feet, and on the very topmost bobble sat Hedwig, hooting serenely and obviously cured.**

**"****Dobby volunteered to return Cristal Potter's owl," said the elf squeakily, with a look of positive adoration on his face, "Professor Grubbly-Plank says she is all well now, sir." He sank into a deep bow so that his pencil-like nose brushed the threadbare surface of the hearthrug and Hedwig gave an indignant hoot and fluttered on to the arm of Cris' chair.**

**"****Thanks, Dobby!" said Cris, stroking Hedwig's head and blinking hard, trying to rid herself of the image of the door in her dream… it had been very vivid. Surveying Dobby more closely, she noticed that the elf was also wearing several scarves and innumerable socks, so that his feet looked far too big for his body.**

"He's been taking them all?" Hermione asked.

"You can't fool them Hermione, you can't free them anyway." Charlie said.

"I should probably stop making them now." Hermione said.

**"****Er… have you been taking all the clothes Hermione's been leaving out?"**

**"****Oh, no, miss," said Dobby happily. "Dobby has been taking some for Winky, too, miss."**

Hermione looked down making a note to not make them anymore it really didn't serve a purpose now.

**"****Yeah, how is Winky?" asked Cris.**

**Dobby's ears drooped slightly.**

**"****Winky is still drinking lots, miss," he said sadly, his enormous round green eyes, large as tennis balls, downcast. "She still does not care for clothes, Cristal Potter. Nor do the other house-elves. None of them will clean Gryffindor Tower any more, not with the hats and socks hidden everywhere, they finds them insulting, miss. Dobby does it all himself, **

"All I did was make him work harder!?" Hermione asked.

"It's okay now Mia, it'll be just fine." Ron said.

**miss, but Dobby does not mind, miss, for he always hopes to meet Cristal Potter and tonight, miss, he has got his wish!" Dobby sank into a deep bow again. "But Cristal Potter does not seem happy," Dobby went on, straightening up again and looking timidly at Cris. "Dobby heard her muttering in her sleep.**

"She still does it sometimes." Neville said.

"Sorry if I wake any of you." Cris said.

"It's fine." Ron and Neville said.

**Was Cristal Potter having bad dreams?"**

**"****Not really bad," said Cris, yawning and rubbing her eyes. "I've had worse."**

**The elf surveyed Cris out of his vast, orb-like eyes. Then he said very seriously, his ear drooping, "Dobby wishes he could help Cristal Potter, for Cristal Potter set Dobby free and Dobby is much, much happier now."**

"He is one strange house-elf." Keiran muttered.

"No kidding," Victoire said.

**Cris smiled.**

**"****You can't help me, Dobby, but thanks for the offer."**

**She bent and picked up her Potions book. She'd have to try to finish the essay tomorrow. She closed the book and as she did so the firelight illuminated the thin white scars on the back of her hand - the result of her detentions with Umbridge…**

**"****Wait a moment - there is something you can do for me, Dobby," said Cris slowly. The elf looked round, beaming.**

**"****Name it, Cristal Potter, miss!" **

"So this is how you found the place." Hermione said.

"Well Dobby would do anything for her." Ron said.

**"****I need to find a place where twenty-eight people can practice Defense Against the Dark Arts without being discovered by any of the teachers. Especially," Cris clenched her hand on the book, so that the scars shone pearly white, "Professor Umbridge."**

"She and possibly Snape would be the only ones you get into trouble with." Teddy said.

"That's true," Keiran said.

**She expected the elf's smile to vanish, his ears to droop; she expected him to say it was impossible, or else that he would try to find somewhere, but her hopes were not high. What she had not expected was for Dobby to give a little skip, his ears waggling cheerfully, and clap his hands together.**

**"****Dobby knows the perfect place, miss!" he said happily. "Dobby heard tell of it from the other house-elves when he came to Hogwarts, miss. It is known by us as the Come and Go Room, miss, or else as the Room of Requirement!"**

"What is that?" the marauders asked.

"You mean to tell me we know something the marauders don't know?" Cris asked with a smile

"Well who better to surpass us than an heir to the marauders?" Padfoot said.

"That's true," Prongs said.

**"****Why?" said Cris curiously.**

**"****Because it is a room that a person can only enter," said Dobby seriously, "when they have real need of it. Sometimes it is there, and sometimes it is not, but when it appears, it is always equipped for the seeker's needs. Dobby has used it, miss," said the elf, dropping his voice and looking guilty, "when Winky has been very drunk; he has hidden her in the Room of Requirement and he has found antidotes to Butterbeer there, and a nice elf-sized bed to settle her on while she sleeps it off, sir… and Dobby knows Mr. Filch has found extra cleaning materials there when he has run short, miss, and -"**

"We so have to find it when we get back." Padfoot said.

"Agreed," the other marauders said.

**"And if you really needed a bathroom," said Cris, suddenly remembering something Dumbledore had said at the Yule Ball the previous Christmas, "would it fill itself with chamber pots?"**

"So you inadvertently told her about the room the previous year." Fudge said.

"I cannot see into the future Cornelius." Dumbledore said.

**"****Dobby expects so, miss," said Dobby, nodding earnestly. "It is a most amazing room, miss."**

"It certainly sounds like it," Padfoot said.

"I can't wait to find it." Moony said.

"Imagine what we could find in there." Prongs said.

"Great, the school will be in ruins." McGonagall said.

**"How many people know about it?" said Cris, sitting up straighter in her chair.**

**"****Very few, miss. Mostly people stumbles across it when they needs it, miss, but often they never finds it again, for they do not know that it is always there waiting to be called into service, miss."**

"That's a very good thing." Charlie said.

"It's a good hiding spot." George said.

"Do we want to know?" Bill asked.

"Probably not." Fred said.

**"****It sounds brilliant," said Cris, her heart racing. "It sounds perfect, Dobby. When can you show me where it is?"**

**"****Any time, Cristal Potter, miss," said Dobby, looking delighted at Cris' enthusiasm. "We could go now, if you like!"**

**For a moment Cris was tempted to go with Dobby. She was halfway out of her seat, intending to hurry upstairs for her Invisibility Cloak when, not for the first time, a voice very much like Hermione's whispered in her ear: **

"Hermione is your conscious?" Sirius asked with a big smile.

"Sometimes," Cris said with a blush.

"Well she is the voice of reason." Fred said.

"Without her these two would be lost." George said pointing to Cris and Ron.

"Thanks," they said wryly.

**reckless. It was, after all, very late, she was exhausted, and had Snape's essay to finish.**

**"Not tonight, Dobby," said Cris reluctantly, sinking back into her chair. "This is really important… I don't want to blow it, it'll need proper planning. Listen, can you just tell me exactly where this Room of Requirement is, and how to get in there?"**

**Their robes billowed and swirled around them as they splashed across the flooded vegetable patch to double Herbology, where they could hardly hear what Professor Sprout was saying over the hammering of raindrops hard as hailstones on the greenhouse roof. The afternoons Care of Magical Creatures lesson was to be relocated from the storm-swept grounds to a free classroom on the ground floor and, to their intense relief, Angelina had sought out her team at lunch to tell them that Quidditch practice was cancelled. **

"Good, there is no use training when you can't see a thing." Robin said.

**"Good," said Cris quietly, when she told her, "because we've found somewhere to have our first Defense meeting. Tonight, eight o'clock, seventh floor opposite that tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by those trolls.**

"That area sounds familiar." Remus said.

"It sure does," Sirius muttered.

**Can you tell Katie and Alicia?"**

**She looked slightly taken aback but promised to tell the others. Cris returned hungrily to her sausages and mash. When she looked up to take a drink of pumpkin juice, she found Hermione watching her.**

**"What?" she said thickly.**

**"Well… it's just that Dobby's plans aren't always that safe. Don't you remember when he lost you all the bones in your arm?" **

"Yeah, that wasn't the best plan but trust this one." Tonks said.

"We did." The trio said.

**"This room isn't just some mad idea of Dobby's; Dumbledore knows about it, too, he mentioned it to me at the Yule Ball."**

**Hermione's expression cleared.**

**"Dumbledore told you about it?"**

**"Just in passing," said Cris, shrugging.**

"Yeah, in passing," Sirius said looking at the headmaster.

**"Oh, well, that's all right then," said Hermione briskly and raised no more objections.**

**Together with Ron they had spent most of the day seeking out those people who had signed their names to the list in the Hog's Head and telling them where to meet that evening. But to Cris' disappointment Ginny found Fred and George first; **

"Sorry," Ginny said.

"It's alright," Cris said with a smile.

**however, by the end of dinner she was confident that the news had been passed to every one of the twenty-five people who had turned up in the Hog's Head.**

**At half past seven Cris, Ron and Hermione left the Gryffindor common room, Cris clutching a certain piece of aged parchment in her hand. Fifth-years were allowed to be out in the corridors until nine o'clock, but all three of them kept looking around nervously as they made their way along the seventh floor.**

"Good because you never know who might sneak up on you." Prongs said.

**"Hold it," Cris warned, unfolding the piece of parchment at the top of the last staircase, tapping it with her wand and muttering, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."**

**A map of Hogwarts appeared on the blank surface of the parchment. Tiny black moving dots, labeled with names, showed where various people were.**

**"Filch is on the second floor," said Cris, holding the map close to her eyes, "and Mrs. Norris is on the fourth."**

**"And Umbridge?" said Hermione anxiously.**

**"In her office," said Cris, pointing. **

"Good, you're in the clear." Padfoot said with a smile.

**"Okay, let's go."**

**They hurried along the corridor to the place Dobby had described to Cris, a stretch of blank wall opposite an enormous tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy's foolish attempt to train trolls for the ballet. **

Padfoot and Prongs made a note of it so they could find it when they get back to their time.

"Who would want to do that?" Gwen asked through her giggles.

"I have no idea." Cris said.

**"Okay," said Cris quietly, while a moth-eaten troll paused in his relentless clubbing of the would be ballet teacher to watch them. "Dobby said to walk past this bit of wall three times, concentrating hard on what we need."**

**They did so, turning sharply at the window just beyond the blank stretch of wall, then at the man-sized vase on its other side. Ron had screwed up his eyes in concentration; Hermione was whispering something under her breath; Cris' fists were clenched as she stared ahead of her.**

**We need somewhere to learn to fight… she thought. Just give us a place to practice… somewhere they can't find us…**

"You could probably be a bit more specific about that, you don't want to be found." Sirius said. Teddy and Keiran looked at each other thinking of how they were betrayed by Cho's friend.

**"Cris!" said Hermione sharply, as they wheeled around after their third walk past.**

**A highly polished door had appeared in the wall. Ron was staring at it, looking slightly wary.**

"A door appeared out of nowhere, you have to admit that is strange even for Hogwarts." Ron said.

"True," Bill said.

**Cris reached out, seized the brass handle, pulled open the door and led the way into a spacious room lit with flickering torches like those that illuminated the dungeons eight floors below.**

**The walls were lined with wooden bookcases and instead of chairs there were large silk cushions on the floor. A set of shelves at the far end of the room carried a range of instruments such as Sneakoscopes, Secrecy Sensors and a large, cracked Foe-Glass that Cris was sure had hung, the previous year, in the fake Moody's office.**

"That'll come in handy." Moody said.

**"These will be good when we're practicing Stunning, " said Ron enthusiastically, prodding one of the cushions with his foot.**

**"And just look at these books!" said Hermione excitedly, **

"Of course she would say that." Charlie said rolling his eyes.

**running a finger along the spines of the large leather-bound tomes. "A Compendium of Common Curses and their Counter-Actions… The Dark Arts Outsmarted… Self-Defensive Spell work… wow…" She looked around at Cris, her face glowing, and she saw that the presence of hundreds of books had finally convinced Hermione that what they were doing was right. **

**"Cris, this is wonderful, there's everything we need here!"**

"Well it is called the Room of Requirement." Remus said.

"I know," Hermione said with a blush.

**And without further ado she slid 'Jinxes for the Jinxed' from its shelf, sank on to the nearest cushion and began to read.**

**There was a gentle knock on the door. Cris looked round. Ginny, Neville, Lavender, Parvati and Dean had arrived.**

**"Whoa," said Dean, staring around, impressed. "What is this place?"**

**Cris began to explain, but before she had finished more people had arrived and she had to start all over again.**

"Just wait until everyone is there." Gwen said.

"That's what I did." Cris said.

**By the time eight o'clock arrived, every cushion was occupied. Cris moved across to the door and turned the key protruding from the lock; it clicked in a satisfyingly loud way and everybody fell silent, looking at her. Hermione carefully marked her page of 'Jinxes for the Jinxed' and set the book aside.**

**"Well," said cris, slightly nervously. "This is the place we've found for practice sessions, and you've - er - obviously found it okay."**

**"It's fantastic!" said Cho, and several people murmured their agreement.**

**"It's bizarre," said Fred, frowning around at it. "We once hid from Filch in here, remember, George? But it was just a broom cupboard then."**

"Well it changes for each person's needs." Bill said.

"We know," the twins said.

**"Hey, Cris, what's this stuff?" asked Dean from the rear of the room, indicating the Sneakoscopes and the Foe-Glass.**

**"Dark detectors," said Cris, stepping between the cushions to reach them. "Basically they all show when Dark wizards or enemies are around, but you don't want to rely on them too much, they can be fooled…"**

**She gazed for a moment into the cracked Foe-Glass; shadowy figures were moving around inside it, though none was recognizable. She turned her back on it.**

"I would keep an eye on it though, you never know." Moody said.

**"Well, I've been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and - er -" She noticed a raised hand. "What, Hermione?"**

**"I think we ought to elect a leader," said Hermione.**

"Isn't that a bit obvious? It's Cris." Charlie said.

"I just wanted to make sure that everyone wanted that as well." Hermione said.

**"Cris' leader," said Fred at once, looking at Hermione as though she were mad.**

"**That's kind of an obvious Hermione." George said agreeing with his brother.**

**Cris' stomach did yet another back-flip.**

"Aaah," cooed Lily and Mrs. Weasley. Cris and the twins blushed so Robin started reading again.

**"Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly," said Hermione, unperturbed. "It makes it formal and it gives him authority. So - everyone who thinks Cris ought to be our leader?"**

**Everybody put up their hand, even Zacharias Smith, though he did it very half-heartedly.**

"Well that settles it, even though it was kind of stupid." Padfoot said.

**"Er - right, thanks," said Cris, who could feel her face burning. "And -what, Hermione?"**

**"I also think we ought to have a name," she said brightly, her hand still in the air. "It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?"**

**"Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?" said Angelina hopefully.**

"I like it." Charlie said.

"It's a little obvious though." Bill said.

**"Or the Ministry of Magic are Morons Group?" suggested Fred.**

"Not everyone there is a moron though." Tonks and Kingsley said.

"Sorry," Fred said.

**"I was thinking," said Hermione, frowning at Fred, "more of a name that didn't tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside meetings."**

**"The Defense Association?" said Cho. "The D.A. for short, so nobody knows what we're talking about?"**

**"Yeah, the D.A.'s good," said Ginny. "Only let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army, because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?"**

"So that's how you came up with it." Draco said.

"Kind of ingenious, isn't?" Ginny asked.

"It is, I love it." Sirius said.

**There was a good deal of appreciative murmuring and laughter at this.**

**"All in favor of the D.A.?" said Hermione bossily, kneeling up on her cushion to count. "That's a majority - motion passed!"**

**She pinned the piece of parchment with all of their signatures on it on to the wall and wrote across the top in large letters: Dumbledore's Army.**

**"Right," said Cris, when she had sat down again, "shall we get practicing then? I was thinking, the first thing we should do is Expelliarmus, you know, the Disarming Charm. I know it's pretty basic but I've found it really useful -"**

"It's the best spell to start off with." Remus said with a smile.

**"Oh, please," said Zacharias Smith, rolling his eye s and folding his arms. "I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?"**

"It did in the graveyard." Bill said.

"You would be surprised what a simple spell can do." Kingsley said.

**"I've used it against him," said Cris quietly. "It saved my life in June." **

**Smith opened his mouth stupidly. The rest of the room was very quiet.**

**"But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave," Cris said.**

**Smith did not move. Nor did anybody else. **

"Because they knew if they had they wouldn't stand a chance on their exams." Lily said.

"That's probably true," Hermione said.

**"Okay," said Cris, her mouth slightly drier than usual with all these eyes upon her, "I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practice."**

**It felt very odd to be issuing instructions, but not nearly as odd as seeing them followed.**

**Everybody got to their feet at once and divided up. Predictably, Neville was left partnerless.**

"It's okay sweetie, it'll just take a little while." Lily said.

"I know," Neville said.

**"You can practice with me," Cris told him. "Right-on the count of three, then-one, two, three-"**

**The room was suddenly full of shouts of Expelliarmus. Wands flew in all directions; missed spells hit books on shelves and sent them flying into the air. Cris was too quick for Neville, whose wand went spinning out of his hand, hit the ceiling in a shower of sparks and landed with a clatter on top of a bookshelf, from which Cris retrieved it with a Summoning Charm.**

"That should be the next spell to teach them." Remus said.

"I think we covered it, right?" Cris asked.

"We did a few lessons later." Hermione said.

**Glancing around, she thought she had been right to suggest they practice the basics first; there was a lot of shoddy spell work going on; many people were not succeeding in Disarming their opponents at all, but merely causing them to jump backwards a few paces or wince as their feeble spell whooshed over them.**

**"Expelliarmus!" said Neville, and Cris, caught unawares, felt her wand fly out of her hand.**

"You did it." Lily said with a big smile.

"Only because Cris was checking the progress of the others." Neville said.

"She should have been paying attention." Mad-Eye said.

"We know, we know, CONSTANT VIGILIANCE!" Tonks said shouting the last part.

**"I DID IT!" said Neville gleefully. "I've never done it before - I DID IT!"**

"Cris is a very good teacher." Neville said.

"Thanks Nev." Cris said blushing slightly.

**"Good one!" said Cris encouragingly, deciding not to point out that in a real duel Neville's opponent was unlikely to be staring in the opposite direction with his wand held loosely at his side. **

"True, but I was able to do it, that's what matters right?" Neville asked.

"Yeah," Victoire said to her uncle.

**"Listen, Neville, can you take it in turns to practice with Ron and Hermione for a couple of minutes so I can walk around and see how the rest are doing?"**

**Cris moved off into the middle of the room. Something very odd was happening to Zacharias Smith. Every time he opened his mouth to disarm Anthony Goldstein, his own wand would fly out of his hand, yet Anthony did not seem to be making a sound. Harry did not have to look far to solve the mystery: Fred and George were several feet from Smith and taking it in turns to point their wands at his back.**

"That's not very sportsmanlike." Tonks said.

"So, he didn't have to be a git to Bambi." George said.

**"Sorry, Cris" said George hastily, when Cris caught his eye. "Couldn't resist."**

**Cris walked around the other pairs, trying to correct those who were doing the spell wrong.**

**Ginny was teamed with Michael Corner; she was doing very well, whereas Michael was either very bad or unwilling to jinx her. **

"He was unwilling to jinx me." Ginny said.

"He is going to pay for that, isn't he?" Lily asked.

"Maybe," Ginny said.

**Ernie Macmillan was flourishing his wand unnecessarily, giving his partner time to get in under his guard; the Creevey brothers were enthusiastic but erratic and mainly responsible for all the books leaping off the shelves around them; Luna Lovegood was similarly patchy, occasionally sending Justin Finch-Fletchley's wand spinning out of his hand, at other times merely causing his hair to stand on end. **

"Hmm, you need to work on it a bit more then." Remus said.

"They should be able to do it by now, right?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah, but since teachers are so erratic it's not surprising." Robin said.

**"Okay, stop!" Cris shouted. "Stop! STOP!"**

**"I need a whistle," she thought, and immediately spotted one lying on top of the nearest row of books.**

"That's neat." Tonks said.

"Useful too," Cris said.

**She caught it up and blew hard. Everyone lowered their wands.**

**"That wasn't bad," said Cris, "but there's definite room for improvement." Zacharias Smith glared at him. "Let's try again."**

**She moved off around the room again, stopping here and there to make suggestions. Slowly, the general performance improved.**

"Good, it's not a difficult spell once you know how to use it." Bill said.

**She avoided going near Cho and her friend for a while, but after walking twice around every other pairs in the room felt she could not ignore them any longer.**

**"Oh no," said Cho rather wildly as she approached. "Expelliarmious! I mean, Expellimellius! I - oh, sorry, Marietta!"**

**Her curly-haired friend's sleeve had caught fire; Marietta extinguished it with her own wand and glared at Cris as though it was her fault.**

"Somehow I don't think she is the best person to have in this group." Kingsley said.

"I agree with you." Charlie said.

**"You made me nervous, I was doing all right before then!" Cho told Cris ruefully.**

**"That was quite good," Cris lied, but when she raised her eyebrows she said, "Well, no, it was lousy, but I know you can do it properly, I was watching from over there."**

**She laughed. Her friend Marietta looked at them rather sourly and turned away.**

**"Don't mind her," Cho muttered. "She doesn't really want to be here but I made her come with me. Her parents have forbidden her to do anything that might upset Umbridge. You see - her mum works for the Ministry."**

"Definitely not the best person to have in the group." Bill said.

**"What about your parents?" asked Cris.**

**"Well, they've forbidden me to get on the wrong side of Umbridge, too," said Cho, drawing herself up proudly. "But if they think I'm not going to fight You-Know-Who after what happened to Cedric -"**

**She broke off, looking rather confused, and an awkward silence fell between them; Terry Boot's wand went whizzing past Cris' ear and hit Alicia Spinnet hard on the nose.**

"Ouch," the group said.

**"Well, my dad is very supportive of any anti-Ministry action!" said Luna Lovegood proudly from just behind Cris; evidently she had been eavesdropping on her conversation while Justin Finch-Fletchley attempted to disentangle himself from the robes that had flown up over his head. "He's always saying he'd believe anything of Fudge; I mean, the number of goblins Fudge has had assassinated! And of course he uses the Department of Mysteries to develop terrible poisons, which he secretly feeds to anybody who disagrees with him. And then there's his Umgubular Slashkilter —" **

"Okay then," a number of people said.

**"Don't ask," Cris muttered to Cho as she opened her mouth, looking puzzled. She giggled.**

**"Hey, Cris," Hermione called from the other end of the room, "have you checked the time?"**

**She looked down at her watch and was shocked to see it was already ten past nine, which meant they needed to get back to their common rooms immediately or risk being caught and punished by Filch for being out of bounds. She blew her whistle; everybody stopped shouting "Expelliarmus" and the last couple of wands clattered to the floor.**

**"Well, that was pretty good," said Cris, "but we've overrun, we'd better leave it here. Same time, same place next week?" **

"I'd change the time." Sirius said.

"I think we did." Cris said.

"I think so too." Hermione said.

**"Sooner!' said Dean Thomas eagerly and many people nodded in agreement.**

**Angelina, however, said quickly. "The Quidditch season's about to start, we need team practices too!"**

**"Let's say next Wednesday night, then," said Cris, "we can decide on additional meetings then. Come on, we'd better get going."**

**She pulled out the Marauder's Map again and checked it carefully for signs of teachers on the seventh floor.**

"I'm glad we made the map more than ever." Moony said.

"No kidding," Prongs said.

**She let them all leave in threes and fours, watching their tiny dots anxiously to see that they returned safely to their dormitories: the Hufflepuffs to the basement corridor that also led to the kitchens; **

"That's the only one mum never went into." Al whispered. Remus and Moony heard and they looked puzzled, wondering when Cris went into the Ravenclaw common room.

**the Ravenclaws to a tower on the west side of the castle, and the Gryffindors along the corridor to the Fat Lady's portrait.**

**"That was really, really good, Cris" said Hermione, when finally it was just her, Cris and Ron who were left.**

**"Yeah, it was!" said Ron enthusiastically, as they slipped out of the door and watched it melt back into stone behind them. "Did you see me disarm Hermione, Cris?"**

**"Only once," said Hermione, stung. "I got you loads more than you got me -" **

**"I did not only get you once, I got you at least three times -" **

"They're arguing again." Bill said.

"They do that a lot." Cris said.

"I've noticed," Charlie said.

**"Well, if you're counting the one where you tripped over your own feet and knocked the wand out of my hand -"**

**They argued all the way back to the common room, but Cris was not listening to them. She was watching the dots of Fred and George on the Marauder's Map thinking about how they stood up for her and how she felt around them. **

"Aww," cooed the girls again.

"That's the chapter." Robin said passing it to her brother. Remus took it and started the next chapter.


	21. Chapter 19: The Lion and the Serpent

"**Chapter 19: The Lion and the Serpent," **Remus read.

"That sounds like a Quidditch match." Prongs said.

"Yeah, this would be the one." Cris said.

"Great," the twins said.

**Cris felt as though she were carrying some kind of talisman inside her chest over the following two weeks, a glowing secret that supported her through Umbridge's classes and even made it possible for her to smile blandly as she looked into her horrible bulging eyes. She and the D.A. were resisting her under her very nose, doing the very thing she and the Ministry most feared, and whenever she was supposed to be reading Wilbert Slinkhard's book during her lessons she dwelled instead on satisfying memories of their most recent meetings, remembering how Neville had successfully disarmed Hermione, how Colin Creevey had mastered the Impediment Jinx after three meetings' hard effort, how Parvati Patil had produced such a good Reductor Curse that she had reduced the table carrying all the Sneakoscopes to dust.**

"That is great." McGonagall said with a smile.

"I wouldn't want to be on the other side of that curse." Padfoot said.

**She was finding it almost impossible to fix a regular night of the week for the D.A. meetings, much to her relief,**

"Good, always get around the loopholes." Sirius said.

"We're good at that." The trio said.

**as they had to accommodate three separate team's Quidditch practices, which were often rearranged due to bad weather conditions; but Cris was not sorry about this; she had a feeling that it was probably better to keep the timing of their meetings unpredictable. If anyone was watching them, it would be hard to make out a pattern.**

"That's true," Draco said.

"You were watching them?" Charlie asked.

"Well yeah, we tend to stay away from each other but there are something's you tend to notice." Draco said.

"That's very true," James said.

**Hermione soon devised a very clever method of communicating the time and date of the next meeting to all the members in case they needed to change it at short notice, because it would look suspicious if people from different Houses were seen crossing the Great Hall to talk to each other too often. She gave each of the members of the D.A. a fake Galleon (Ron became very excited when he first saw the basket and was convinced she was actually giving out gold).**

"Really Ron?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah," Ron said blushing.

"What did you do to the coins?" Remus asked.

"You'll find out." Cris said.

"**You see the numerals around the edge of the coins?" Hermione said, holding one up for examination at the end of their fourth meeting. The coin gleamed fat and yellow in the light from the torches. "On real Galleons that's just a serial number referring to the goblin who cast the coin. On these fake coins, though, the numbers will change to reflect the time and date of the next meeting. The coins will grow hot when the date changes, so if you're carrying them in a pocket you'll be able to feel them. We take one each, and when Cris sets the date of the next meeting she'll change the numbers on her coin, and because I've put a Protean Charm on them, they'll all change to mimic hers."**

"That's a NEWT level spell!" Fudge said staring at the girl.

"That's what Voldemort uses for the Dark Marks." Snape said wide eyed.

"That's where I got the idea from." Hermione said.

"That's actually very smart." Moody said.

**A blank silence greeted Hermione's words. She looked around at all the faces upturned to her, rather disconcerted.**

**"Well - I thought it was a good idea," she said uncertainly, "I mean, even if Umbridge asked us to turn out our pockets, there's nothing fishy about carrying a Galleon, is there?**

"No there isn't, everyone carries around at least some money with them." Bill said. Umbridge was seething, technically they weren't breaking any rules and it was making her mad.

**But… well, if you don't want to use them -"**

**"****You can do a Protean Charm?" said Terry Boot.**

**"****Yes," said Hermione.**

**"****But that's… that's NEWT standard, that is," he said weakly.**

**"****Oh," said Hermione, trying to look modest. "Oh… well… yes, I suppose it is."**

"Only you would pull that off as normal." Tonks said shaking her head.

"To her, it is normal." Cris said with a smile.

**"****How come you're not in Ravenclaw?" he demanded, staring at Hermione with something close to wonder. "With brains like yours?"**

**"****Well, the Sorting Hat did seriously consider putting me in Ravenclaw during my Sorting," said Hermione brightly, "but it decided on Gryffindor in the end. So, does that mean we're using the Galleons?"**

"How close did you come to being a Ravenclaw?" Bill asked.

"Well it really wanted me to go either there or Gryffindor but it felt I would do better in Gryffindor then in Ravenclaw." Hermione said.

"I was almost in Ravenclaw as well." Remus said.

"So was I." Lily said.

"I'm not surprised." Prongs and Padfoot said.

**There was a murmur of assent and everybody moved forwards to collect one from the basket.**

**Cris looked sideways at Hermione.**

**"****You know what these remind me of?"**

"Of course you would think of it first." Robin said.

"Thanks," Cris said.

**"****No, what's that?"**

**"****The Death Eaters' scars. Voldemort touches one of them, and all their scars burn, and they know they've got to join him."**

**"****Well… yes," said Hermione quietly, "that is where I got the idea but you'll notice I decided to engrave the date on bits of metal rather than on our members' skin."**

"Yeah, your idea is more humane." Sirius said.

"I didn't think the group would appreciate getting branded." Hermione said.

"Though most members now have the D.A. tattooed somewhere after the war." Keiran said.

"Really?" the trio asked.

"Yeah, you'll find out why later." Teddy said.

**"****Yeah… I prefer your way," said Cris, grinning, as she slipped her Galleon into her pocket. "I suppose the only danger with these is that we might accidentally spend them."**

"Yeah, that might be a problem." Remus said.

"Or lose it, that might also be a problem." Charlie said.

**"****Fat chance," said Ron, who was examining his own fake Galleon with a slightly mournful air, "I haven't got any real Galleons to confuse it with."**

His parents shifted uncomfortably in their seats but didn't say anything.

**As the first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, drew nearer, their D.A. meetings were put on hold because Angelina insisted on almost daily practices. The fact that the Quidditch Cup had not been held for so long added considerably to the interest and excitement surrounding the forthcoming game; the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were taking a lively interest in the outcome, for they, of course, would be playing both teams over the coming year; and the Heads of House of the competing teams, though they attempted to disguise it under a decent pretence of sportsmanship, were determined to see their own side victorious. Cris realized how much Professor McGonagall cared about beating Slytherin when she abstained from giving them homework in the week leading up to the match.**

"Always knew you were a fan." Sirius said.

"Well yeah, I appointed her to the team for a reason." McGonagall said.

**"****I think you've got enough to be getting on with at the moment," she said loftily. Nobody could quite believe their ears until she looked directly at Cris and Ron and said grimly, "I've become accustomed to seeing the Quidditch Cup in my study, and I really don't want to have to hand it over to Professor Snape, so use the extra time to practice, won't you?"**

"Wow, I've never seen her say that." Charlie said.

"Well they haven't won since you left and the first two years Cris was on the team something prevented her from playing so I really wanted them to win." McGonagall said.

**Snape was no less obviously partisan; he had booked the Quidditch pitch for Slytherin practice so often that the Gryffindors had difficulty getting on it to play. **

"Git," the marauders past and present said.

**He was also turning a deaf ear to the many reports of Slytherin attempts to hex Gryffindor players in the corridors.**

"Severus!" McGonagall shouted.

"You should get onto them, good grief they could have seriously injured students." Tonks said.

**When Alicia Spinnet turned up in the hospital wing with her eyebrows growing so thick and fast they obscured her vision and obstructed her mouth, Snape insisted that she must have attempted a Hair-thickening Charm on herself and refused to listen to the fourteen eye-witnesses who insisted they had seen the Slytherin Keeper, Miles Bletchley, hit her from behind with a jinx while she worked in the library.**

"Severus!" McGonagall shouted again.

"What a git." Bill said. Snape sank further back into his chair at the glares he was getting from everyone in the room so Remus continued reading.

**Cris felt optimistic about Gryffindor's chances; they had, after all, never lost to Malfoy's team.**

"Because you're unbeatable as long as they are no Dementor's around." Charlie said enviously.

"Oh be like that Char, we'll have a seeker match later." Cris said with a smile.

**Admittedly, Ron was still not performing to Wood's standard, but he was working extremely hard to improve. His greatest weakness was a tendency to lose confidence after he'd made a blunder; if he let in one goal he became flustered and was therefore likely to miss more.**

"You need to stop worrying about that, alright so you messed up, everyone does every once in a while." Charlie said.

"Thanks Charlie." Ron said.

**On the other hand, Cris had seen Ron make some truly spectacular saves when he was on form; during one memorable practice he had hung one-handed from his broom and kicked the Quaffle so hard away from the goal hoop that it soared the length of the pitch and through the center hoop at the other end; **

"Damn, even Keira never did that." Al said.

"That was accidental." Ron said.

"I don't believe that." Charlie said with an encouraging smile.

**the rest of the team felt this save compared favorably with one made recently by Barry Ryan, the Irish International Keeper, against Poland's top Chaser, Ladislaw Zamojski.**

**Even Fred had said that Ron might yet make him and George proud, and that they were seriously considering admitting he was related to them, something they assured him they had been trying to deny for four years.**

"That's kind of hard to do considering the red hair and the freckles." Tonks said.

"I know!" the twins said.

**The only thing really worrying Cris was how much Ron was allowing the tactics of the Slytherin team to upset him before they even got on to the pitch.**

**Cris, of course, had endured their snide comments for over four years, so whispers of, "Hey, Potty, I heard Warrington's sworn to knock you off your broom on Saturday", far from chilling her blood, made her laugh.**

**"Warrington's aim's so pathetic I'd be more worried if he was aiming for the person next to me," she retorted, which made Ron and Hermione laugh and wiped the smirk off Pansy Parkinson's face. **

"Dear sweet Merlin, it's a mixture of both our wits." Lily said.

"I know, and it's great." Padfoot said as the group laughed.

**But Ron had never endured a relentless campaign of insults, jeers and intimidation. When Slytherins, some of them seventh-years and considerably larger than he was, muttered as they passed in the corridors, "Got your bed booked in the hospital wing, Weasley?" he didn't laugh, but turned a delicate shade of green. When Draco Malfoy imitated Ron dropping the Quaffle (which he did whenever they came within sight of each other),**

"You're a right git, you know that right." Padfoot said.

"I know," Draco said.

**Ron's ears glowed red and his hands shook so badly that he was likely to drop whatever he was holding at the time, too.**

**October extinguished itself in a rush of howling winds and driving rain and November arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard frosts every morning and icy draughts that bit at exposed hands and faces. The skies and the ceiling of the Great Hall turned a pale, pearly grey, the mountains around Hogwarts were snowcapped, and the temperature in the castle dropped so low that many students wore their thick protective dragon skin gloves in the corridors between lessons.**

**The morning of the match dawned bright and cold. When Cris awoke she looked round at Ron's bed and saw him sitting bolt upright, his arms around his knees, staring fixedly into space. **

"You have a really bad case of nerves." Padfoot said.

"It's not normal isn't?" Ron asked.

"It's different for everyone." Robin said.

**"****You all right?" said Cris.**

**Ron nodded but did not speak. Cris was reminded forcibly of the time Ron had accidentally put a Slug-vomiting Charm on himself; he looked just as pale and sweaty as he had done then, not to mention as reluctant to open his mouth.**

"You need some water and crackers." Gwen said.

"Those would be good for nerves." Lily said.

**"****You just need some breakfast," Cris said bracingly. "C'mon."**

**The Great Hall was filling up fast when they arrived, the talk louder and the mood more exuberant than usual. As they passed the Slytherin table there was an upsurge of noise. Cris looked round and saw that, in addition to the usual green and silver scarves and hats, every one of them was wearing a silver badge in the shape of what seemed to be a crown. For some reason many of them waved at Ron, laughing uproariously. **

**Cris tried to see what was written on the badges as she walked by, but she was too concerned to get Ron past their table quickly to linger long enough to read them.**

"How in the world did you come up with that anyway?" Cris asked.

"Better yet, why?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know," Draco said putting his head down.

"What did the badges say?" Bill asked.

"Are they as bad as last year?" Tonks asked.

"Depends I guess, they could be just as bad." Hermione said.

**They received a rousing welcome at the Gryffindor table, where everyone was wearing red and gold, but far from raising Ron's spirits the cheers seemed to sap the last of his morale; he collapsed on to the nearest bench looking as though he were facing his final meal.**

"Don't think like that Ron." Charlie said.

"Your nerves are really bad." Keiran said.

"It's weird, you're never this nervous." Scarlett said.

"Really?" Ron asked.

"But then again we know Auror you so it would be different." Victoire said.

"True," Scarlett said.

**"****I must've been mental to do this," he said in a croaky whisper. "Mental."**

**"****Don't be thick," said Cris firmly, passing him a choice of cereals, "you're going to be fine. It's normal to be nervous."**

**"****I'm rubbish," croaked Ron. "I'm lousy. I can't play to save my life. What was I thinking?" **

"Keep thinking like that and you will be." Kingsley said.

"You just need confidence in yourself." Tonks said.

**"****Get a grip," said Cris sternly. "Look at that save you made with your foot the other day, even Fred and George said it was brilliant."**

**Ron turned a tortured face to Cris.**

**"****That was an accident," he whispered miserably. "I didn't mean to do it - I slipped off my broom when none of you were looking and when I was trying to get back on I kicked the Quaffle by accident."**

"But that's still impressive," Charlie said.

"None of us could do it." Bill said.

"Get a grip Ron," George said.

"You will be fine," Fred said.

"We won anyway." Ginny whispered to him. Ron nodded but still put out as Percy didn't say anything at all to him.

**"****Well," said Cris, recovering quickly from this unpleasant surprise, "a few more accidents like that and the game's in the bag, isn't it?"**

**Hermione and Ginny sat down opposite them wearing red and gold scarves, gloves and rosettes.**

**"****How're you feeling?" Ginny asked Ron, who was now staring into the dregs of milk at the bottom of his empty cereal bowl as though seriously considering attempting to drown himself in them.**

"I wasn't thinking that." Ron said.

"Well it looked like it." Cris said with a shrug.

**"****He's just nervous," said Cris.**

**"****Well, that's a good sign, I never feel you perform as well in exams if you're not a bit nervous," said Hermione heartily.**

"Quidditch is a bit different from exams though." Victoire said.

"I know that now," Hermione said.

**"Hello," said a vague and dreamy voice from behind them. Cris looked up: Luna Lovegood had drifted over from the Ravenclaw table. Many people were staring at her and a few were openly laughing and pointing; she had managed to procure a hat shaped like a life-size lion's head, which was perched precariously on her head. **

"Cool," Gwen said.

"Thank you," Luna said.

"**I'm supporting Gryffindor," said Luna, pointing unnecessarily at her hat. "Look what it does…"**

**She reached up and tapped the hat with her wand. It opened its mouth wide and gave an extremely realistic roar that made everyone in the vicinity jump.**

"**It's good, isn't it?" said Luna happily. "I wanted to have it chewing up a serpent to represent Slytherin, you know, but there wasn't time. **

Draco looked at her a bit hurt.

"Well at the time you were still a big git." Luna said.

"Wow, I never heard Luna talk like that." Ginny whispered to Neville.

"Neither have I." Neville said.

**Anyway… good luck, Ronald!"**

"You let her call you that?" Bill asked his youngest brother. All his life he never heard anyone call Ron by his given name unless he was in trouble.

"I was still in shock at her hat." Ron said.

**She drifted away. They had not quite recovered from the shock of Luna's hat before Angelina came hurrying towards them, accompanied by Katie and Alicia, whose eyebrows had mercifully been returned to normal by Madam Pomfrey.**

"Well that's a good thing." Sirius said.

"Can you imagine what it would have been like to play with only two chasers." Tonks said.

"Well you could, it would be difficult." Padfoot said.

**"****When you're ready," she said, "we're going to go straight down to the pitch, check out conditions and change."**

**"****We'll be there in a bit," Cris assured her. "Ron's just got to have some breakfast."**

**It became clear after ten minutes, however, that Ron was not capable of eating anything more and Cris thought it best to get him down to the changing rooms. As they rose from the table, Hermione got up, too, and taking Cris' arm she drew her to one side.**

**"****Don't let Ron see what's on those Slytherins' badges," she whispered urgently.**

"Don't tell me, I don't want to know." Bill said.

"We'll know anyway." Charlie said gruffly.

**Cris looked questioningly at her, but she shook her head warningly; Ron had just ambled over to them, looking lost and desperate.**

**"****Good luck, Ron," said Hermione, standing on tiptoe and kissing him on the cheek. **

Hermione did so again and Ron's face blushed a bright red to go with his hair.

**"And you, Cris -"**

**Ron seemed to come to himself slightly as they walked back across the Great Hall. He touched the spot on his face where Hermione had kissed him, looking puzzled, as though he was not quite sure what had just happened. He seemed too distracted to notice much around him, but Cris cast a curious glance at the crown-shaped badges as they passed the Slytherin table, and this time she made out the words etched on to them:**

**Weasley Is Our King**

"Why do I have the feeling that it's in a different context?" Bill asked.

"That's because it is." Ginny said.

"Great," muttered the older Weasley's.

**With an unpleasant feeling that this could mean nothing good, she hurried Ron across the Entrance Hall, down the stone steps and out into the icy air.**

**The frosty grass crunched under their feet as they hurried down the sloping lawns towards the stadium. There was no wind at all and the sky was a uniform pearly white, which meant that visibility would be good without the drawback of direct sunlight in the eyes. Cris pointed out these encouraging factors to Ron as they walked, but she was not sure that Ron was listening. **

"Sorry," Ron said blushing.

"It's alright; I know it was only the nerves." Cris said.

**Angelina had changed already and was talking to the rest of the team when they entered. Cris and Ron pulled on their robes (Ron attempted to do his up back-to-front for several minutes before Alicia took pity on him and went to help), then sat down to listen to the pre-match talk while the babble of voices outside grew steadily louder as the crowd came pouring out of the castle towards the pitch.**

**"****Okay, I've only just found out the final line-up for Slytherin," said Angelina, consulting a piece of parchment. "Last year's Beaters, Derrick and Bole, have left, but it looks as though Montague's replaced them with the usual gorillas, rather than anyone who can fly particularly well. They're two blokes called Crabbe and Goyle, I don't know much about them-"**

"Their complete idiots." Sirius said.

"How on earth did they get on the team?" Charlie asked.

"I have no idea." Cris said.

"Montague just picked them." Draco said.

"They suck," Cris said.

"I know," Draco said.

**"****We do," said Cris and Ron together.**

**"****Well, they don't look bright enough to tell one end of a broom from the other,"**

"That's true," the group muttered.

**said Angelina, pocketing her parchment, "but then I was always surprised Derrick and Bole managed to find their way on to the pitch without signposts."**

**"****Crabbe and Goyle are in the same mold," Cris assured her. **

"I've always wondered how they advanced in classes." Cris said.

"So have I." Hermione said.

"They go on until after fifth year." McGonagall said.

"Well, there's that." Cris said.

**They could hear hundreds of footsteps mounting the banked benches of the spectators' stands. **

**Some people were singing, though Cris could not make out the words.**

"Thank Merlin for that." Cris muttered.

"I could have killed him for that." Fred muttered.

"We nearly did after the game." George pointed out.

"Yeah, that was uncalled for." Cris muttered.

**She was starting to feel nervous, but she knew her butterflies were as nothing compared to Ron's, who was clutching his stomach and staring straight ahead again, his jaw set and his complexion pale grey.**

"Wow, that is the worst case of nerves I have ever heard of." Kit said.

"I'm glad my nerves amuse you." Ron said.

"Sorry, it's just I've never seen anyone react as bad as you." Kit said.

**"****It's time," said Angelina in a hushed voice, looking at her watch. "C'mon everyone… good luck."**

**The team rose, shouldered their brooms and marched in single file out of the changing room and into the dazzling sunlight. A roar of sound greeted them in which Cris could still hear singing, though it was muffled by the cheers and whistles. **

**The Slytherin team was standing waiting for them. They, too, were wearing those silver crown shaped badges. The new Captain, Montague, was built along the same lines as Dudley Dursley, **

"Wow, and he can get on a broom and fly?" Gwen asked.

"That's exactly what I was thinking." Cris said with a smile towards her Muggle friend.

**with massive forearms like hairy hams. Behind him lurked Crabbe and Goyle, almost as large, blinking stupidly in the sunlight, swinging their new Beaters' bats. Malfoy stood to one side, the sunlight gleaming on his white-blond head. He caught Cris' eye and smirked, tapping the crown-shaped badge on his chest.**

**"****Captains, shake hands," ordered the referee Madam Hooch, as Angelina and Montague reached each other. Cris could tell that Montague was trying to crush Angelina's fingers, though she did not wince. **

"Good, don't show pain." Tonks said.

**"****Mount your brooms…"**

**Madam Hooch placed her whistle in her mouth and blew.**

**The balls were released and the fourteen players shot upwards. Out of the corner of her eye Cris saw Ron streak off towards the goal hoops. Cris zoomed higher, dodging a Bludger, and set off on a wide lap of the pitch, gazing around for a glint of gold; on the other side of the stadium, Draco Malfoy was doing exactly the same.**

**"****And it's Johnson - Johnson with the Quaffle, what a player that girl is, I've been saying it for years but she still won't go out with me -"**

"Lee, really?" Charlie asked.

"He was really persistent." Fred said with a shrug.

**"****JORDAN!" yelled Professor McGonagall.**

**"****- just a fun fact, Professor, adds a bit of interest - and she's ducked Warrington, she's passed Montague, she's — ouch - been hit from behind by a Bludger from Crabbe… Montague catches the Quaffle, Montague heading back up the pitch and - nice Bludger there from George Weasley, that's a Bludger to the head for Montague, he drops the Quaffle, caught by Katie Bell, Katie Bell of Gryffindor reverse-passes to Alicia Spinnet and Spinnet's away -"**

**Lee Jordan's commentary rang through the stadium and Cris listened as hard as she could through the wind whistling in her ears and the din of the crowd, all yelling and booing and singing.**

**"****- dodges Warrington, avoids a Bludger - close call, Alicia - and the crowd are loving this, just listen to them, what's that they're singing?"**

"He really shouldn't have said that." Ron said with a groan.

"Do we want to know?" Sirius asked.

"No, but you will soon enough." Cris said.

**And as Lee paused to listen, the song rose loud and clear from the sea of green and silver in the Slytherin section of the stands:**

Remus stopped there and pulled a disgusted face at the next line.

"You are so lucky to be alive, you know that." Remus said glaring at the blonde Slytherin.

"What is it Rem?" Robin asked. Remus took a deep breath and read the next line.

**"****Weasley cannot save a thing; He cannot block a single ring, That's why Slytherins all sing: Weasley is our King."**

The Weasleys all turned to Malfoy who was looking down in embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry," Draco said.

"Just wait until after the game, we're very lucky that we had our wands taken from us." Cris said. Draco paled drastically and Remus continued reading.

**"****Weasley was born in a bin; He always lets the Quaffle in Weasley will make sure we win Weasley is our King."**

Remus looked on the verge to tearing the book in half and the eldest Weasley brothers looked ready to beat the Slytherins to a pulp.

**"—****and Alicia passes back to Angelina!" Lee shouted, and as Cris swerved, her insides boiling at what she had just heard, she knew Lee was trying to drown out the words of the song. "Come on now, Angelina — looks like she's got just the Keeper to beat! - SHE SHOOTS - SHE - aaaah…"**

**Bletchley, the Slytherin Keeper, had saved the goal; **

"Darn," Padfoot said.

"You score some you lose some." Prongs said.

**he threw the Quaffle to Warrington who sped off with it, zig-zagging in between Alicia and Katie; the singing from below grew louder and louder as he drew nearer and nearer Ron.**

**"Weasley is our King; Weasley is our King, He always lets the Quaffle in Weasley is our King."**

"Come one Ron, ignore them and get focused on the game." Padfoot said.

**Cris could not help herself: abandoning her search for the Snitch, she wheeled around to watch Ron, a lone figure at the far end of the pitch, hovering before the three goal hoops while the massive Warrington pelted towards him.**

**"- and it's Warrington with the Quaffle, Warrington heading for goal, he's out of Bludger range with just the Keeper ahead -"**

**A great swell of song rose from the Slytherin stands below:**

**"Weasley cannot save a thing; He cannot block a single ring…"**

"Just ignore them and block that damn quaffle." Charlie said.

**"- so it's the first test for new Gryffindor Keeper Weasley, brother of Beaters Fred and George, and a promising new talent on the team -come on, Ron!"**

**But the scream of delight came from the Slytherins' end: Ron had dived wildly, his arms wide, and the Quaffle had soared between them straight through Ron's central hoop.**

"Damn," muttered his brothers.

**"Slytherin score!" came Lee's voice amid the cheering and booing from the crowds below, "so that's ten-nil to Slytherin - bad luck, Ron."**

**The Slytherins sang even louder:**

**"WEASLEY WAS BORN IN A BIN; HE ALWAYS LETS THE QUAFFLE IN…"**

"Don't listen to them Ronnie, don't listen to them." Mrs. Weasley said.

"He'll do much better if they wouldn't sing that stupid song." Bill said through gritted teeth.

**"- and Gryffindor back in possession and it's Katie Bell tanking up the pitch -" cried Lee valiantly, though the singing was now so deafening that he could hardly make himself heard above it.**

**"WEASLEY WILL MAKE SURE WE WIN WEASLEY IS OUR KING…"**

**"Cris, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" screamed Angelina, soaring past her to keep up with Katie. "GET GOING!"**

"Don't want to risk a broken arm again." Prongs said.

"Definitely not." Cris said.

**Cris realized he had been stationary in midair for over a minute, watching the progress of the match without sparing a thought for the whereabouts of the Snitch; horrified, she went into a dive and started circling the pitch again, staring around, trying to ignore the chorus now thundering through the stadium:**

**"WEASLEY IS OUR KING, WEASLEY IS OUR KING…"**

"That should be against the rules." Mrs. Weasley seethed.

"I agree," McGonagall said. "But technically they aren't doing anything wrong."

**There was no sign of the Snitch anywhere she looked; Malfoy was still circling the stadium just as she was. They passed one another midway around the pitch, going in opposite directions, and Cris heard Malfoy singing loudly:**

**"WEASLEY WAS BORN IN A BIN…"**

"Punch him like Mione did." Prongs said.

"I did, later." Cris muttered.

**"—and it's Warrington again," bellowed Lee, "who passes to Pucey, Pucey's off past Spinnet, come on now, Angelina, you can take him - turns out you can't - but nice Bludger from Fred Weasley, I mean, George Weasley, oh, who cares, one of them, anyway, and Warrington drops the Quaffle and Katie Bell — er - drops it, too - so that's Montague with the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Montague takes the Quaffle and he's off up the pitch, come on now, Gryffindor, block him!"**

"Come on, you can do it Ron." Bill cheered.

**Cris zoomed around the end of the stadium behind the Slytherin goal hoops, willing herself not to look at what was going on at Ron's end. As she sped past the Slytherin Keeper, she heard Bletchley singing along with the crowd below:**

**"WEASLEY CANNOT SAVE A THING…"**

**"- and Pucey's dodged Alicia again and he's heading straight for goal, stop it, Ron!"**

"Don't pressure him." Lily said.

**Cris did not have to look to see what had happened: there was a terrible groan from the Gryffindor end, coupled with fresh screams and applause from the Slytherins. Looking down, Cris saw the pug-faced Pansy Parkinson right at the front of the stands, her back to the pitch as she conducted the Slytherin supporters who were roaring:**

**"THAT'S WHY SLYTHERINS ALL SING WEASLEY IS OUR KING."**

**But twenty-nil was nothing,**

"No, it's not you can easily come back from that." Sirius said who was on the edge of his seat.

**there was still time for Gryffindor to catch up or catch the Snitch. A few goals and they would be in the lead as usual, Cris assured herself, bobbing and weaving through the other players in pursuit of something shiny that turned out to be Montague's watchstrap.**

**But Ron let in two more goals. There was an edge of panic in Cris' desire to find the Snitch now. If she could just get it soon and finish the game quickly.**

**"- and Katie Bell of Gryffindor dodges Pucey, ducks Montague, nice swerve, Katie, and she throws to Johnson, Angelina Johnson takes the Quaffle, she's past Warrington, she's heading for goal, come on now, Angelina - GRYFFINDOR SCORE! **

"Yes!" cried the room.

**It's forty-ten, forty-ten to Slytherin and Pucey has the Quaffle"**

**Cris could hear Luna's ludicrous lion hat roaring **

"Well you got to use it." Gwen said.

"There's that, this isn't a very good game." Padfoot said.

**amidst the Gryffindor cheers and felt heartened; only thirty points in it, that was nothing, they could pull back easily. Cris ducked a Bludger that Crabbe had sent rocketing in her direction and resumed her frantic scouring of the pitch for the Snitch, keeping one eye on Malfoy in case he showed signs of having spotted it, but Malfoy, like her, was continuing to soar around the stadium, searching fruitlessly…**

**"— Pucey throws to Warrington, Warrington to Montague, Montague back to Pucey -Johnson intervenes, Johnson takes the Quaffle, Johnson to Bell, this looks good - I mean bad - Bells hit by a Bludger from Goyle of Slytherin and it's Pucey in possession"**

**"WEASLEY WAS BORN IN A BIN, HE ALWAYS LETS THE QUAFFLE IN"**

**"WEASLEY WILL MAKE SURE WE WIN"**

"Shut up!" the room said.

**But Cris had seen it at last: the tiny fluttering Golden Snitch was hovering feet from the ground at the Slytherin end of the pitch.**

**She dived…**

"Come on, you can do it!" Charlie yelled getting to his feet.

**In a matter of seconds, Malfoy was streaking out of the sky on Cris' left, a green and silver blur lying flat on his broom…**

**The Snitch skirted the foot of one of the goal hoops and scooted off towards the other side of the stands; its change of direction suited Malfoy, who was nearer; **

"Don't let him get it!" Prongs cried.

**Cris pulled her Firebolt around, she and Malfoy were now neck and neck…**

"Come on, you have the better broom." Padfoot shouted.

**Feet from the ground, Cris lifted her right hand from her broom, stretching towards the Snitch… to her right, Malfoy's arm extended too, was reaching, groping…**

**It was over in two breathless, desperate, windswept seconds – Cris' fingers closed around the tiny, struggling ball - Malfoy's fingernails scrabbled the back of Cris' hand hopelessly - **

"You got it!" cried Al. He had gotten his skills from his mum when it came to seeking.

**Cris pulled her broom upwards, holding the struggling ball in her hand and the Gryffindor spectators screamed their approval…**

**They were saved, it did not matter that Ron had let in those goals, nobody would remember as long as Gryffindor had won -**

"That's true, though maybe the Slytherins will remember it." Charlie said.

**WHAM.**

**A Bludger hit Cris squarely in the small of the back and she flew forwards off her broom. **

"What?!" screamed her parents and the rest of the marauders.

"Whoever did that is going to pay." Sirius said with a growl.

**Luckily she was only five or six feet above the ground, having dived so low to catch the Snitch, but she was winded all the same as she landed flat on her back on the frozen pitch. She heard Madam Hooch's shrill whistle, an uproar in the stands compounded of catcalls, angry yells and jeering, a thud, then Angelina's frantic voice.**

**"Are you all right?"**

**"Course I am," said Cris grimly, taking her hand and allowing her to pull her to her feet.**

**Madam Hooch was zooming towards one of the Slytherin players above her, though she could not see who it was from this angle.**

**"It was that thug Crabbe," said Angelina angrily, "he whacked the Bludger at you the moment he saw you'd got the Snitch -**

"Idiot, he should have known better." Sirius said cried.

"Well he is an idiot." Draco said.

"True," Sirius said.

**but we won, Cris, we won!"**

**Cris heard a snort from behind her and turned around, still holding the Snitch tightly in her hand: Draco Malfoy had landed close by. White-faced with fury, he was still managing to sneer.**

"You better not do something stupid." Charlie said with a sneer.

**"Saved Weasley's neck, haven't you?" he said to Cris. "I've never seen a worse Keeper… but then he was born in a bin… did you like my lyrics, Potter?"**

"You made them up?" Bill asked.

"Actually I didn't, it was Parkinson." Draco said.

"I'm not surprised." Mr. Weasley said.

**Cris didn't answer. She turned away to meet the rest of the team who were now landing one by one, yelling and punching the air in triumph; all except Ron, who had dismounted from his broom over by the goalposts and seemed to be making his way slowly back to the changing rooms alone.**

**"We wanted to write another couple of verses!" Malfoy called, as Katie and Alicia hugged Cris. "But we couldn't find rhymes for fat and ugly - we wanted to sing about his mother, see-"**

All the Weasley's turned to glare at Draco.

"I know, I know, I was a prick." Draco said.

"Good, you know." Bill said with a growl.

**"Talk about sour grapes," said Angelina, casting Malfoy a disgusted look.**

**"- we couldn't fit in useless loser either - for his father, you know -"**

"Are you trying to get her to hit you?" Tonks asked.

"I wasn't thinking, I was just mad she beat me again." Draco said.

"Well she is a natural." Kingsley said.

**Fred and George had realized what Malfoy was talking about. Halfway through hugging Cris, they stiffened, looking round at Malfoy.**

**"Leave it!" said Angelina at once, taking Fred by the arm. "Leave it, Fred; let him yell, he's just sore he lost, the jumped-up little -"**

"Good, don't want to make a scene." Bill said. He looked over at the twins and Cris and by the look on their faces knew that something did happen he just didn't want to know what.

**"- but you like the Weasleys, don't you, Potter?" said Malfoy, sneering. "Spend holidays there and everything, don't you? Can't see how you stand the stink, but I suppose when you've been dragged up by Muggles, even the Weasleys' hovel smells okay -"**

"That does sound really bad." Draco said.

"You realize that now?" Tonks asked.

**Cris grabbed hold of George. **

"Probably not the best idea, both of you do have terrible tempers especially when it comes to family." Charlie said.

"Yeah, it's not going to end well." Ginny said.

**Meanwhile, it was taking the combined efforts of Angelina, Alicia and Katie to stop Fred leaping on Malfoy, who was laughing openly.**

"If it took three of them that means Fred as more of a temper than Cris and George combined." Padfoot said to try and lighten the mood. It worked slightly and they chuckled a bit before Remus continued reading.

**Cris looked around for Madam Hooch, but she was still berating Crabbe for his illegal bludger attack.**

"And with Hooch occupied there's nothing stopping Malfoy." Sirius said with a groan.

"It gets worse." Cris said sending a glare towards Draco.

**"Or perhaps," said Malfoy, leering as he backed away, "you can remember what your mother's house stank like, Potter, and Weasleys pigsty reminds you of it —"**

"You did not just say that." Sirius snarled looking at Draco.

"I know, I was a major prat." Draco said.

"Much more than that, you don't just say that about the dead." Bill said.

**Cris was not aware of releasing George, all she knew was that a second later both of them were sprinting towards Malfoy. She had completely forgotten that all the teachers were watching: all she wanted to do was cause Malfoy as much pain as possible; with no time to draw out her wand, she merely drew back the fist clutching the Snitch and sank it as hard as she could into Malfoy's stomach -**

"Yes!" cried the marauders.

"That wasn't a smart idea." Lily said.

"He goaded me, and that last part made me snap." Cris said.

"Now I know why." McGonagall said.

"You didn't punish them too bad did you?" Bill asked.

"I wouldn't have." McGonagall said.

"Why do I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

**"Cris! CRIS! GEORGE! NO"**

**She could hear girls' voices screaming, Malfoy yelling, George swearing, a whistle blowing and the bellowing of the crowd around her, but she did not care. Not until somebody in the vicinity yelled "Impedimenta!" and she was knocked over backwards by the force of the spell, did she abandon the attempt to punch every inch of Malfoy she could reach.**

"How badly were you hurt?" Lily J asked.

"I had several bruises." Draco said.

"You deserved every single one of them." Gwen said.

**"What do you think you're doing?" screamed Madam Hooch, as Cris leapt to her feet. It seemed to have been her who had hit her with the Impediment Jinx; she was holding her whistle in one hand and a wand in the other; her broom lay abandoned several feet away. Malfoy was curled up on the ground, whimpering and moaning, his nose bloody; George was sporting a swollen lip; Fred was still being forcibly restrained by the three Chasers, and Crabbe was cackling in the background. "I've never seen behavior like it - back up to the castle, both of you, and straight to your Head of House's office! Go! Now."**

"It wasn't their fault though, if they weren't goaded they wouldn't have attacked him the Muggle way." Charlie said.

"It's still against the rules to hit another student." McGonagall said.

**Cris and George turned on their heels and marched off the pitch, both panting, neither saying a word to the other. The howling and jeering of the crowd grew fainter and fainter until they reached the Entrance Hall, where they could hear nothing except the sound of their own footsteps. Cris became aware that something was still struggling in her right hand, the knuckles of which she had bruised against Malfoy's jaw. Looking down, she saw the Snitch's silver wings protruding from between her fingers, struggling for release.**

"So that's why it was harder than Granger's." Draco said under his breath.

**They had barely reached the door of Professor McGonagall's office when she came marching along the corridor behind them. She was wearing a Gryffindor scarf, but tore it from her throat with shaking hands as she strode towards them, looking livid.**

"I'm sorry, though you should have just ignored them." McGonagall said.

"I tried at least; it was the comment about my mum that made me snap." Cris said.

"I understand," McGonagall said.

**"In!" she said furiously, pointing to the door. Cris and George entered. She strode around behind her desk and faced them, quivering with rage as she threw the Gryffindor scarf aside on to the floor.**

**"Well?" she said. **

"Not good," the marauders said.

**"I have never seen such a disgraceful exhibition. Two on one! Explain yourselves!"**

**"Malfoy provoked us," said Cris stiffly.**

"Still not a good response." Lily said.

"Though it is very true." Prongs said.

**"Provoked you?" shouted Professor McGonagall, slamming a fist on to her desk so that her tartan tin slid sideways off it and burst open, littering the floor with Ginger Newts. "He'd just lost, hadn't he? Of course he wanted to provoke you! But what on earth he can have said that justified what you two —"**

**"He insulted my parents," snarled George. "And Cris' mother."**

**"But instead of leaving it to Madam Hooch to sort out, you two decided to give an exhibition of Muggle dueling, did you?" bellowed Professor McGonagall. "Have you any idea what you've - ?"**

"Hooch was busy; I'm surprised they held out as long as they had." Tonks said.

"I didn't know she was still busy with Crabbe." McGonagall said.

**"Hem, hem."**

"Great not her," Charlie groaned.

"What does she want?" Bill asked.

"To make our lives miserable." The twins and Cris said.

**Cris and George both wheeled round. Dolores Umbridge was standing in the doorway wrapped in a green tweed cloak that greatly enhanced her resemblance to a giant toad, and was smiling in the horrible, sickly, ominous way that Cris had come to associate with imminent misery.**

"I don't like where this is going." Tonks said.

**"May I help, Professor McGonagall?" asked Professor Umbridge in her most poisonously sweet voice.**

"She can handle it without your help." Kit sneered.

"She's been teaching longer than you." Prongs said.

**Blood rushed into Professor McGonagall's face.**

**"Help?" she repeated, in a constricted voice. "What do you mean, help?"**

**Professor Umbridge moved forwards into the office, still smiling her sickly smile.**

**"Why, I thought you might be grateful for a little extra authority"**

"She doesn't need any extra authority, she can handle them." Ginny said.

"I wish she left." Cris said.

"Me too," George said agreeing with Cris.

**Cris would not have been surprised to see sparks fly from Professor McGonagall's nostrils.**

"Sorry Professor," Cris said with a blush.

"It's alright Cris, I was surprised as well."

**"You thought wrong," she said, turning her back on Umbridge.**

**"Now, you two had better listen closely. I do not care what provocation Malfoy offered you, I do not care if he insulted every family member you possess, your behavior was disgusting and I am giving each of you a week's worth of detentions! Do not look at me like that, Potter, you deserve it! And if either of you ever -"**

**"Hem, hem."**

"Oh go away already, she can handle it." Robin said.

**Professor McGonagall closed her eyes as though praying for patience as she turned her face towards Professor Umbridge again.**

**"Yes?"**

**"I think they deserve rather more than detentions," said Umbridge, smiling still more broadly.**

"She is there head of house and will do whatever she sees fit." Lily said.

**Professor McGonagall's eyes flew open.**

**"But unfortunately" she said, with an attempt at a reciprocal smile that made her look as though she had lockjaw, "it is what I think that counts, as they are in my House, Dolores."**

"Good comeback Minnie," Padfoot said.

"Don't call me that Mr. Black." McGonagall said with a slight twitch of her lips.

**"Well, actually, Minerva," simpered Professor Umbridge, "I think you'll find that what I think does count. Now, where is it? Cornelius just sent it… I mean," she gave a false little laugh as she rummaged in her handbag, "the Minister just sent it… ah yes…" **

"Great, another one?" Bill asked.

"Yeah," the current students said.

**She had pulled out a piece of parchment which she now unfurled, clearing her throat fussily before starting to read what it said.**

**"Hem, hem… 'Educational Decree Number Twenty-five'."**

**"Not another one!" exclaimed Professor McGonagall violently.**

**"Well, yes," said Umbridge, still smiling. "As a matter of fact, Minerva, it was you who made me see that we needed a further amendment… you remember how you overrode me, when I was unwilling to allow the Gryffindor Quidditch team to re-form? How you took the case to Dumbledore, who insisted that the team be allowed to play? Well, now, I couldn't have that. I contacted the Minister at once, and he quite agreed with me that the High Inquisitor has to have the power to strip pupils of privileges, or she - that is to say, I - would have less authority than common teachers! **

"Come on, how is that fair?!" Moony shouted.

"It's not, she's just stupid." Charlie said.

**And you see now, don't you, Minerva, how right I was in attempting to stop the Gryffindor team re-forming? Dreadful tempers… **

"Only when provoked," Cris said.

"Well she doesn't see that does she." Robin growled at the toad.

**anyway, I was reading out our amendment… hem, hem… 'High Inquisitor will henceforth have supreme authority over all punishments, sanctions and removal of privileges pertaining to the students of Hogwarts, and the power to alter such punishments, sanctions and removals of privileges as may have been ordered by other staff members. Signed, Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, Order of Merlin First Class, etc., etc.'" **

"How in the world is that a good thing, she is going to make them use that bloody Blood Quill again and again." Bill shouted.

"They were provoked; they wouldn't have done so otherwise." Tonks shouted.

**She rolled up the parchment and put it back into her handbag, still smiling.**

**"So… I really think I will have to ban these two from playing Quidditch ever again," she said, looking from Cris to George and back again.**

"Ever again?" Sirius yelped.

"Ever again." Cris and George said.

"That should be illegal." Prongs said.

**Cris felt the Snitch fluttering madly in her hand.**

**"Ban us?" she said, and her voice sounded strangely distant. "From playing… ever again?"**

**"Yes, Miss Potter, I think a lifelong ban ought to do the trick," said Umbridge, her smile widening still further as she watched her struggle to comprehend what she had said. "You and Mr. Weasley here. And I think, to be safe, this young man's twin ought to be stopped, too - **

"How is that fair?" Bill asked loudly.

"He didn't do anything." Charlie said agreeing with Bill.

"I would have if they had let me go." Fred said.

"But they held you back." Percy said.

"It doesn't matter to her. She hates us about as much as Snape." Ron said.

**if his teammates had not restrained him, I feel sure he would have attacked young Mr. Malfoy as well.**

**I will want their broomsticks confiscated, of course; I shall keep them safely in my office, to make sure there is no infringement of my ban. But I am not unreasonable, Professor McGonagall," she continued, turning back to Professor McGonagall who was now standing as still as though carved from ice, staring at her. "The rest of the team can continue playing; I saw no signs of violence from any of them. Well… good afternoon to you." **

"You just don't want Gryffindor to have a team." Charlie growled.

"I'm not surprised by that." Moony said.

"It shouldn't be up to her." Lily said.

"It's too late now mum," Cris said.

**And with a look of the utmost satisfaction, Umbridge left the room, leaving a horrified silence in her wake.**

**"Banned," said Angelina in a hollow voice, late that evening in the common room. "Banned. No Seeker and no Beaters… what on earth are we going to do?"**

"Reform the team, you can do it." Charlie said.

"Though the team was brilliant by itself. And unbeatable seeker and all that." Prongs said.

"That's why he did it." Padfoot said growling at Draco.

**It did not feel as though they had won the match at all. Everywhere Cris looked there were disconsolate and angry faces; the team themselves were slumped around the fire, all apart from Ron, who had not been seen since the end of the match.**

**"It's just so unfair," said Alicia numbly. "I mean, what about Crabbe and that Bludger he hit after the whistle had been blown? Has she banned him?"**

"Did she?" Lily asked hopefully.

"No," Cris and the twins said.

"Now that's just bloody hypocritical. He could have broken her back." Prongs said.

"That wouldn't have been fun at all." Cris said.

"You could have been paralyzed." Lily said. Fudge looked over at her.

"If you're going to ban them you should have banned him as well." Fudge said and left it at that. Amelia however was writing more on the parchment she had in front of her.

**"No," said Ginny miserably; she and Hermione were sitting on either side of Cris. "He just got lines, I heard Montague laughing about it at dinner."**

"How is that fair?" Alice asked.

"It's not," Cris said.

**"And banning Fred when he didn't even do anything!" said Alicia furiously, pummeling her knee with her fist.**

**"It's not my fault I didn't," said Fred, with a very ugly look on his face, "I would've pounded the little scumbag to a pulp if you three hadn't been holding me back."**

**Cris stared miserably at the dark window. Snow was falling. The Snitch she had caught earlier was now zooming around and around the common room; people were watching its progress as though hypnotized and Crookshanks was leaping from chair to chair, trying to catch it.**

**"I'm going to bed," said Angelina, getting slowly to her feet. "Maybe this will all turn out to have been a bad dream… maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and find we haven't played yet…" **

"I wish," Cris said.

**She was soon followed by Alicia and Katie. Fred and George sloped off to bed some time later, glowering at everyone they passed, and Ginny went not long after that. Only Cris and Hermione were left beside the fire.**

**"Have you seen Ron?" Hermione asked in a low voice.**

**Cris shook her head.**

**"I think he's avoiding us," said Hermione. "Where do you think he -?"**

**But at that precise moment, there was a creaking sound behind them as the Fat Lady swung forwards and Ron came clambering through the portrait hole. He was very pale indeed and there was snow in his hair. When he saw Cris and Hermione, he stopped dead in his tracks. **

"I was hoping you guys had gone to bed." Ron said.

"Well we didn't," Cris said.

**"Where have you been?" said Hermione anxiously, springing up.**

**"Walking," Ron mumbled. He was still wearing his Quidditch things.**

"All day?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah," Ron grumbled.

**"You look frozen," said Hermione. "Come and sit down!"**

**Ron walked to the fireside and sank into the chair furthest from Cris', not looking at her. The stolen Snitch zoomed over their heads.**

**"I'm sorry," Ron mumbled, looking at his feet.**

**"What for?" said Cris.**

**"For thinking I can play Quidditch," said Ron. "I'm going to resign first thing tomorrow." **

"Don't do that!" Gwen cried.

"They talked me out of it." Ron said.

"Good," Gwen said.

**"If you resign," said Cris testily, "there'll only be three players left on the team." And when Ron looked puzzled, he said, "I've been given a lifetime ban. So've Fred and George."**

**"What?" Ron yelped.**

**Hermione told him the full story; Cris could not bear to tell it again. When she had finished, Ron looked more anguished than ever.**

**"This is all my fault -"**

"No it wasn't, stop sounding like Cris." Ginny said.

"Hey!" Cris said.

"It's true," Ginny said shrugging her shoulders.

**"You didn't make me punch Malfoy," said Cris angrily.**

**"- if I wasn't so terrible at Quidditch -"**

**"- it's got nothing to do with that."**

**"- it was that song that wound me up -"**

**"- it would've wound anyone up."**

**Hermione got up and walked to the window, away from the argument, watching the snow swirling down against the pane.**

**"Look, drop it, will you!" Cris burst out. "It's bad enough, without you blaming yourself for everything!"**

"Now you know how I feel." Ron said.

"Sorry," Cris said.

"Stop already," Hermione said.

**Ron said nothing but sat gazing miserably at the damp hem of his robes. After a while he said in a dull voice, "This is the worst I've ever felt in my life."**

**"Join the club," said Cris bitterly.**

**"Well," said Hermione, her voice trembling slightly. "I can think of one thing that might cheer you both up."**

"What?" Padfoot asked.

"I can't think of anything that would make this any better." Prongs said.

**"Oh yeah?" said Cris skeptically.**

**"Yeah," said Hermione, turning away from the pitch-black, snow-flecked window, a broad smile spreading across her face. "Hagrid's back."**

"Yeah, that'll do it." Prongs said.

"That's the chapter." Remus said. He handed it to Lily J who read the next chapter.


	22. Chapter 20: Hagrid's Tale

"**Chapter 20: Hagrid's Tale," **Lily J read.

"Of course you would go see Hagrid right away." Remus said shaking his head.

"We missed him." Cris said shrugging her shoulders.

"Of course you did, Hogwarts isn't the same without him." Padfoot said.

**Cris sprinted up to the boys' dormitories to fetch the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map from her trunk; she was so quick that she and Ron were ready to leave at least five minutes before Hermione hurried back down from the girls' dormitories, wearing scarf, gloves and one of her own knobbly elf hats.**

"Then they would be a little big of the elves." Bill said. Hermione turned to glare at him.

**"Well, it's cold out there!" she said defensively, as Ron clicked his tongue impatiently.**

"You just wanted to go and see him." Sirius said.

"Yeah," Hermione said.

**They crept through the portrait hole and covered themselves hastily in the Cloak - Ron had grown so much he now needed to crouch to prevent his feet showing -**

"It does get harder in the later years." Prongs said.

"We know," the trio said.

**then, moving slowly and cautiously, they proceeded down the many staircases, pausing at intervals to check on the map for signs of Filch or Mrs. Norris. They were lucky; they saw nobody but Nearly Headless Nick, who was gliding along absent-mindedly humming something that sounded horribly like Weasley is our King.**

"Why was he singing that?" Frank asked raising an eyebrow.

"It is catchy." Luna said.

"Sadly," Ron said.

**They crept across the Entrance Hall and out into the silent, snowy grounds. With a great leap of her heart, Cris saw little golden squares of light ahead and smoke coiling up from Hagrid's chimney. She set off at a quick march, the other two jostling and bumping along behind her. They crunched excitedly through the thickening snow until at last they reached the wooden front door. When Cris raised her fist and knocked three times, a dog started barking frantically inside.**

**"Hagrid, it's us!" Cris called through the keyhole.**

**"Shoulda known!" said a gruff voice.**

**They beamed at each other under the Cloak; they could tell by Hagrid's voice that he was pleased. "Bin home three seconds… out the way, Fang… out the way, yeh dozy dog…"**

"He's excited too." Charlie said.

"He cares for you three deeply." Dumbledore said.

**The bolt was drawn back, the door creaked open and Hagrid's head appeared in the gap.**

**Hermione screamed.**

"What why?" Charlie asked.

"Did he get a new hairdo?" Padfoot asked. The group chuckled a bit at that.

"No," Hermione said.

"Was he injured?" Tonks asked.

"That does seem more likely." Bill said.

**"Merlin's beard, keep it down!" said Hagrid hastily, staring wildly over their heads. "Under that Cloak, are yeh? Well, get in, get in!"**

**"I'm sorry!" Hermione gasped, as the three of them squeezed past Hagrid into the house and pulled the Cloak off themselves so he could see them. "I just - oh, Hagrid!"**

**"It's nuthin', it's nuthin'!" said Hagrid hastily, shutting the door behind them and hurrying to close all the curtains, but Hermione continued to gaze up at him in horror. **

"How bad was it?" Sirius asked.

"Bad," the trio said.

**Hagrid's hair was matted with congealed blood and his left eye had been reduced to a puffy slit amid a mass of purple and black bruising. There were many cuts on his face and hands, some of them still bleeding, and he was moving gingerly, which made Cris suspect broken ribs.**

"What did that to him?" Lily asked.

"Whatever it was its powerful." Moony said.

**It was obvious that he had only just got home; a thick black traveling cloak lay over the back of a chair and a haversack large enough to carry several small children leaned against the wall inside the door. Hagrid himself, twice the size of a normal man, was now limping over to the fire and placing a copper kettle over it.**

**"What happened to you?" Cris demanded, while Fang danced around them all, trying to lick their faces.**

**"Told yeh, nuthin'," said Hagrid firmly. "Want a cuppa?"**

"Nice topic change," Charlie said shaking his head.

**"Come off it," said Ron, "you're in a right state!"**

**"I'm tellin' yeh, I'm fine," said Hagrid, straightening up and turning to beam at them all, but wincing. "Blimey, it's good ter see yeh three again - had good summers, did yeh?"**

**"Hagrid, you've been attacked!" said Ron.**

"That's obvious." Draco said quietly.

**"Fer the las' time, it's nuthin'!" said Hagrid firmly.**

"Stay strong Hagrid, don't tell them anything." Mrs. Weasley said.

"I doubt he'll be able to last long." Bill said. Mrs. Weasley sighed because she knew it was true.

**"Would you say it was nothing if one of us turned up with a pound of mince instead of a face?" Ron demanded.**

"No probably not." Keiran said.

**"You ought to go and see Madam Pomfrey, Hagrid," said Hermione anxiously, "some of those cuts look nasty."**

**"I'm dealin' with it, all righ'?" said Hagrid repressively.**

**He walked across to the enormous wooden table that stood in the middle of his cabin and twitched aside a tea towel that had been lying on it. Underneath was a raw, bloody, green-tinged steak slightly larger than the average car tire.**

"Dragon meat." Charlie said.

"He isn't going to eat it is he?" Gwen asked.

"No, it's not good to eat, it is used for bruises." Charlie said.

**"You're not going to eat that, are you, Hagrid?" said Ron, leaning in for a closer look. "It looks poisonous."**

**"It's s'posed ter look like that, it's dragon meat," Hagrid said. "An' I didn' get it ter eat."**

**He picked up the steak and slapped it over the left side of his face. Greenish blood trickled down into his beard as he gave a soft moan of satisfaction.**

**"Tha's better. It helps with the stingin', yeh know."**

**"So, are you going to tell us what's happened to you?" Cris asked.**

**"Can't, Cris. Top secret. More'n me job's worth ter tell yeh that."**

"Good, maybe he won't say anything." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Do you really think that mum?" Charlie asked.

"One can hope." She said.

**"Did the giants beat you up, Hagrid?" asked Hermione quietly.**

**Hagrid's fingers slipped on the dragon steak and it slid squelchily on to his chest.**

"How in the world did you three know?" Tonks asked.

"It's them, of course they know." Fred said.

"Plus, Malfoy did kind of tell them over the year." George said.

**"Giants?" said Hagrid, catching the steak before it reached his belt and slapping it back over his face, "who said anythin' abou' giants? Who yeh bin talkin' to? Who's told yeh what I've - who's said I've bin - eh?"**

**"We guessed," said Hermione apologetically.**

**"Oh, yeh did, did yeh?" said Hagrid, surveying her sternly with the eye that was not hidden by the steak.**

**"It was kind of… obvious," said Ron. Cris nodded.**

**Hagrid glared at them, then snorted, threw the steak back on to the table and strode over to the kettle, which was now whistling.**

**"Never known kids like you three fer knowin' more'n yeh oughta," he muttered, splashing boiling water into three of his bucket-shaped mugs. "An' I'm not complimentin' yeh, neither. Nosy, some'd call it. Interferin'."**

"That's why we love them though." Bill said with a smile.

"They wouldn't be the same without that little trait of theirs." Fred said kissing Cris' temple.

**But his beard twitched.**

"Of course it would," Charlie said.

"He can't stay made at someone for long." Bill said.

**"So you have been to look for giants?" said Cris, grinning as she sat down at the table.**

**Hagrid set tea in front of each of them, sat down, picked up his steak again and slapped it back over his face.**

**"Yeah, all righ'," he grunted, "I have."**

**"And you found them?" said Hermione in a hushed voice.**

**"Well, they're not that difficult ter find, ter be honest," said Hagrid. "Pretty big, see." **

"Somehow I don't think she met that." Lily said.

**"Where are they?" said Ron.**

**"Mountains," said Hagrid unhelpfully.**

**"So why don't Muggles -?"**

"They're in the Mountains?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah," Charlie said but before he could say anything else Gwen interrupted him.

"I don't think I want to go to the mountains anymore." She said.

"They are only in certain mountain ranges." Viktor said. Gwen nodded though still weary nonetheless.

**"They do," said Hagrid darkly. "On'y their deaths are always put down ter mountaineerin' accidents, aren' they?"**

**He adjusted the steak a little so that it covered the worst of the bruising.**

**"Come on, Hagrid, tell us what you've been up to!" said Ron. "Tell us about being attacked by the giants and Cris can tell you about being attacked by the Dementors -"**

"Ron, really?" Teddy asked. Ron just shrugged his shoulders.

**Hagrid choked in his mug and dropped his steak at the same time; a large quantity of spit, tea and dragon blood was sprayed over the table as Hagrid coughed and spluttered and the steak slid, with a soft splat, on to the floor.**

**"Whadda yeh mean, attacked by Dementors?" growled Hagrid.**

"It's not surprising that he didn't know, he was away when it happened." Sirius said.

"Can you imagine would have happened if he was hear?" Robin asked.

"He would have charged head first to Privet Drive and taken Cris to headquarters." Sirius said.

"I wish that happened." Cris said.

**"Didn't you know?" Hermione asked him, wide-eyed.**

**"I don' know anythin' that's bin happenin' since I left. I was on a secret mission, wasn' I, didn' wan' owls followin' me all over the place - ruddy Dementors! Yeh're not serious?"**

"No, that's me," Padfoot and Sirius said.

"That joke got old long ago." Remus said.

**"Yeah, I am, they turned up in Little Whinging and attacked my cousin and me, and then the Ministry of Magic expelled me -"**

**"WHAT?"**

**"- and I had to go to a hearing and everything, but tell us about the giants first."**

"Yeah, the giants are more important than almost being expelled." Teddy said.

"But I wasn't expelled," Cris said.

**"You were expelled!"**

**"Tell us about your summer and I'll tell you about mine."**

"That's one way to do it." Kit said.

**Hagrid glared at her through his one open eye. Cris looked right back, an expression of innocent determination on her face.**

**"Oh, all righ'," Hagrid said in a resigned voice.**

**He bent down and tugged the dragon steak out of Fang's mouth.**

**"Oh, Hagrid, don't, it's not hygien—" Hermione began, but Hagrid had already slapped the meat back over his swollen eye.**

**He took another fortifying gulp of tea, then said, "Well, we set off righ' after term ended -"**

**"Madame Maxime went with you, then?" Hermione interjected.**

"That's a very good assumption." Charlie said.

**"Yeah, tha's righ'," said Hagrid, and a softened expression appeared on the few inches of face that were not obscured by beard or green steak.**

**"Yeah, it was jus' the pair of us. An' I'll tell yeh this, she's not afraid of roughin' it, Olympe. Yeh know, she's a fine, well-dressed woman, an' knowin' where we was goin' I wondered 'ow she'd feel abou' clamberin' over boulders an' sleepin' in caves an' tha', bu' she never complained once."**

**"You knew where you were going?" Cris repeated. "You knew where the giants were?"**

**"Well, Dumbledore knew, an' he told us," said Hagrid.**

**"Are they hidden?" asked Ron. "Is it a secret, where they are?"**

"Well not exactly, we need to know where they are so we can keep an eye on them." Amelia said.

**"Not really" said Hagrid, shaking his shaggy head. "It's jus' that mos' wizards aren' bothered where they are, 's long as it's a good long way away. But where they are's very difficult ter get ter, fer humans anyway, so we needed Dumbledore's instructions. Took us abou' a month ter get there -"**

**"A month?" said Ron, as though he had never heard of a journey lasting such a ridiculously long time. "But - why couldn't you just grab a Portkey or something?" **

"They needed to keep it a secret," Tonks said.

**There was an odd expression in Hagrid's unobscured eye as he surveyed Ron; it was almost pitying.**

**"We're bein' watched, Ron," he said gruffly.**

**"What d'you mean?"**

"You know, keeping an eye on them." Charlie said.

"I know what it means." Ron said throwing a pillow at his brother.

**"Yeh don' understand," said Hagrid. "The Ministry's keepin' an eye on Dumbledore an' anyone they reckon's in league with 'im, an' -"**

**"We know about that," said Cris quickly keen to hear the rest of Hagrid's story, "we know about the Ministry watching Dumbledore -"**

**"So you couldn't use magic to get there?" asked Ron, looking thunderstruck, "you had to act like Muggles all the way?"**

**"Well, not exactly all the way" said Hagrid cagily. "We jus' had ter be careful, 'cause Olympe an' me, we stick out a bit —"**

"Only a bit," James said with a chuckle.

**Ron made a stifled noise somewhere between a snort and a sniff and hastily took a gulp of tea.**

**"- so we're not hard ter follow. We was pretendin' we was goin' on holiday together, so we got inter France an' we made like we was headin' fer where Olympes school is, 'cause we knew we was bein' tailed by someone from the Ministry. We had to go slow, 'cause I'm not really s'posed ter use magic an' we knew the Ministry'd be lookin' fer a reason ter run us in. But we managed ter give the berk tailin' us the slip round abou' Dee-John —"**

**"Ooooh, Dijon?" said Hermione excitedly. "I've been there on holiday, did you see -?" **

"Now is not the time Hermione." Lily said.

"I know," Hermione said.

**She fell silent at the look on Ron's face.**

**"We chanced a bit o' magic after that an' it wasn' a bad journey. Ran inter a couple o' mad trolls on the Polish border an' I had a sligh' disagreement with a vampire in a pub in Minsk, bu' apart from tha' couldn't'a bin smoother.**

"Okay, my definition of smooth is way different from his." Gwen said.

"Well it is Hagrid." Alice said.

**"An' then we reached the place, an' we started trekkin' up through the mountains, lookin' fer signs of 'em…**

**"We had ter lay off the magic once we got near 'em. Partly 'cause they don' like wizards an' we didn' want ter put their backs up too soon, an' partly 'cause Dumbledore had warned us You- Know-Who was bound ter be after the giants an' all. Said it was odds on he'd sent a messenger off ter them already. Told us ter be very careful of drawin' attention ter ourselves as we got nearer in case there was Death Eaters around."**

**Hagrid paused for a long draught of tea.**

**"Go on!" said Cris urgently.**

**"Found 'em," said Hagrid baldly. "Went over a ridge one nigh' an' there they was, spread ou' underneath us. Little fires burnin' below an' huge shadows… it was like watchin' bits o' the mountain movin'." **

"That's one way to describe them." Charlie said.

**"How big are they?" asked Ron in a hushed voice.**

**"Bout twenty feet," said Hagrid casually. "Some o' the bigger ones mighta bin twenty-five."**

"That's big," Gwen said.

"That's why they are called Giants." Hermione said.

"I know that, I'm just saying, I never imagined for any of this to be real." Gwen said.

"It is over whelming." Lily said.

**"And how many were there?" asked Cris.**

**"I reckon abou' seventy or eighty," said Hagrid.**

"There's not very many." Gwen said sadly.

"They were killed off during the war." Remus said.

**"Is that all?" said Hermione.**

**"Yep," said Hagrid sadly, "eighty left, an' there was loads once, musta bin a hundred diff'rent tribes from all over the world. Bu' they've bin dyin' out fer ages. Wizards killed a few, o' course, bu' mostly they killed each other, an' now they're dyin' out faster than ever. They're not made ter live bunched up together like tha'.**

"Most creatures aren't." Charlie said sadly.

"That's just cruel." Gwen said.

**Dumbledore says it's our fault, it was the wizards who forced 'em to go an' made 'em live a good long way from us an' they had no choice bu' ter stick together fer their own protection."**

**"So," said Cris, "you saw them and then what?"**

**"Well, we waited till morning, didn' want ter go sneakin' up on 'em in the dark, fer our own safety," said Hagrid. "Bout three in the mornin' they fell asleep jus' where they was sittin'. We didn' dare sleep. Fer one thing, we wanted ter make sure none of 'em woke up an' came up where we were, an' fer another, the snorin' was unbelievable. Caused an avalanche near mornin'.**

**"Anyway, once it was light we wen' down ter see 'em."**

**"Just like that?" said Ron, looking awestruck. "You just walked right into a giant camp?"**

**"Well, Dumbledore'd told us how ter do it," said Hagrid. "Give the Gurg gifts, show some respect, yeh know." **

"Just like that?" Gwen asked.

"It's a bit more complicated than that." Sirius said.

**"Give the what gifts?" asked Cris.**

**"Oh, the Gurg - means the chief."**

**"How could you tell which one was the Gurg?" asked Ron.**

"Isn't it obvious? He's the biggest and laziest." Bill said.

"So Uncle Ron," James said.

"Oi!" Ron said.

"He is one of the tallest and he certainly is lazy." Bill said.

"Hey, what is it, pick on Ron day?" Ron asked.

"Yep," the twins said.

**Hagrid grunted in amusement.**

**"No problem," he said. "He was the biggest, the ugliest an' the laziest.**

"You forgot ugly, Bill." Ginny said with a teasing smile. Ron mock pouted and crossed his arms over his chest.

**Sittin' there waitin' ter be brought food by the others. Dead goats an' such like. Name o' Karkus. I'd put him at twenty-two, twenty-three feet an' the weight o' a couple o' bull elephants. Skin like rhino hide an' all."**

**"And you just walked up to him?" said Hermione breathlessly.**

**"Well… down ter him, where he was lyin' in the valley. They was in this dip between four pretty high mountains, see, beside a mountain lake, an' Karkus was lyin' by the lake roarin' at the others ter feed him an' his wife. Olympe an' I went down the mountainside -"**

**"But didn't they try and kill you when they saw you?" asked Ron incredulously.**

**"It was def'nitely on some o' their minds," said Hagrid, shrugging, "but we did what Dumbledore told us ter do, which was ter hold our gift up high an' keep our eyes on the Gurg an' ignore the others. So tha's what we did. An' the rest of 'em went quiet an' watched us pass an' we got right up ter Karkus's feet an' we bowed an' put our present down in front o' him."**

**"What do you give a giant?" asked Ron eagerly. "Food?"**

"Somehow I doubt it." Keiran said.

"Do you always think with your stomach?" Alice asked.

"Yes," said his brothers and sister and his friends.

**"Nah, he can get food all righ' fer himself," said Hagrid. "We took him magic. Giants like magic, jus' don' like us usin' it against 'em. Anyway, that firs' day we gave 'im a branch o' Gubraithian fire."**

"What's that?" Gwen asked.

"Everlasting fire," Keiran said.

"Sounds cool." Gwen said.

**Hermione and Cris said, "Wow!" softly, but Ron frowned in puzzlement.**

**"A branch of -?"**

**"Everlasting fire," said Hermione irritably, "you ought to know that by now. Professor Flitwick's mentioned it at least twice in class!"**

"Why remember it when I have the two of you." Ron said.

"Is that all we are to you?" Cris asked.

"Honestly Ron," Hermione said.

"Sorry," Ron said.

**"Well, anyway," said Hagrid quickly, intervening before Ron could answer back, "Dumbledore'd bewitched this branch to burn fer evermore, which isn' somethin' any wizard could do, an' so I lies it down in the snow by Karkus's feet and says, 'A gift to the Gurg of the giants from Albus Dumbledore, who sends his respectful greetings.'"**

**"And what did Karkus say?" asked Cris eagerly.**

**"Nothin'," said Hagrid. "Didn' speak English."**

**"You're kidding!"**

"Few of them can." Charlie said.

"Doesn't that make communication difficult?" Gwen asked.

"It can." Dumbledore said.

**"Didn' matter," said Hagrid imperturbably, "Dumbledore had warned us tha' migh' happen. Karkus knew enough to yell fer a couple o' giants who knew our lingo an' they translated fer us."**

**"And did he like the present?" asked Ron.**

**"Oh yeah, it went down a storm once they understood what it was," said Hagrid, turning his dragon steak over to press the cooler side to his swollen eye. "Very pleased. So then I said, Dumbledore asks the Gurg to speak with his messenger when he returns tomorrow with another gift."**

"Well it is kind of rude to ask right away." Hermione said.

"That's true," Cris said.

**"Why couldn't you speak to them that day?" asked Hermione.**

**"Dumbledore wanted us ter take it very slow," said Hagrid. "Let 'em see we kept our promises. We'll come back tomorrow with another present, an' then we do come back with another present - gives a good impression, see? An' gives them time ter test out the firs' present an' find out it's a good one, an' get 'em eager fer more. In any case, giants like Karkus - overload 'em with information an' they'll kill yeh jus' to simplify things. So we bowed outta the way an' went off an' found ourselves a nice little cave ter spend that night in an' the followin' mornin' we went back an' this time we found Karkus sittin' up waitin' fer us lookin' all eager."**

"It seems to be working." Teddy said.

"Let's hope it works." Frank said.

**"And you talked to him?"**

**"Oh yeah. Firs' we presented him with a nice battle helmet -goblin-made an' indestructible, yeh know - an' then we sat down an' we talked."**

**"What did he say?"**

**"Not much," said Hagrid. "Listened mostly. Bu' there were good signs. He'd heard o' Dumbledore, heard he'd argued against the killin' o' the last giants in Britain. Karkus seemed ter be quite int'rested in what Dumbledore had ter say. An' a few o' the others, 'specially the ones who had some English, they gathered round an' listened too. We were hopeful when we left that day. Promised ter come back next mornin' with another present…**

**"Bu' that night it all wen' wrong." **

"Oh no, what happened?" Lily asked.

"I'm guessing a new Gurg happened." Bill said.

"Great," Lily said.

**"What d'you mean?" said Ron quickly.**

**"Well, like I say, they're not meant ter live together, giants," said Hagrid sadly. "Not in big groups like that. They can' help themselves, they half kill each other every few weeks.**

"Great, who is the new Gurg?" Charlie asked.

**The men fight each other an' the women fight each other; the remnants of the old tribes fight each other, an' that's even without squabbles over food an' the best fires an' sleepin' spots. Yeh'd think, seein' as how their whole race is abou' finished, they'd lay off each other, bu'…"****Hagrid sighed deeply.**

**"That night a fight broke out, we saw it from the mouth of our cave, lookin' down on the valley. Went on fer hours, yeh wouldn' believe the noise. An' when the sun came up the snow was scarlet an' his head was lyin' at the bottom o' the lake."**

**"Whose head?" gasped Hermione.**

**"Karkus's," said Hagrid heavily. "There was a new Gurg, Golgomath." He sighed deeply. **

"And now you have to start all over." Kingsley said sighing deeply.

**"Well, we hadn' bargained on a new Gurg two days after we'd made friendly contact with the firs' one, an' we had a funny feelin' Golgomath wouldn' be so keen ter listen to us, bu' we had ter try."**

**"You went to speak to him?" asked Ron incredulously. "After you'd watched him rip off another giant's head?"**

"They didn't have much of a choice." Charlie said.

"Giants would be useful in the war." Tonks said. They missed the looks of the future kids were giving each other.

**"Course we did," said Hagrid, "we hadn' gone all that way ter give up after two days! We wen' down with the next present we'd meant ter give ter Karkus.  
"I knew it was no go before I'd opened me mouth. He was sitting there wearin' Karkus's helmet, leerin' at us as we got nearer. He's massive, one o' the biggest ones there. Black hair an' matchin' teeth an' a necklace o' bones. Human-lookin' bones, some of 'em. Well, I gave it a go - held out a great roll o' dragon skin - an' said, 'gift fer the Gurg of the giants —' Nex' thing I knew, I was hangin' upside-down in the air by me feet, two of his mates had grabbed me."**

"Damn," Charlie said wide eyed.

"I always thought Hagrid was strong but to meet someone stronger is kind of shocking." Sirius said.

**Hermione clapped her hands to her mouth.**

**"How did you get out of that?" asked Cris.**

**"Wouldn'ta done if Olympe hadn' bin there," said Hagrid. "She pulled out her wand an' did some o' the fastes' spell work I've ever seen. Ruddy marvelous. Hit the two holdin' me right in the eyes with Conjunctivitus Curses an' they dropped me straightaway - bu' we were in trouble then, 'cause we'd used magic against 'em, an' that's what giants hate abou' wizards. We had ter leg it an' we knew there was no way we was going ter be able ter march inter the camp again."**

"Well, there goes one alley." Bill said dejectedly.

"We may still have allies with some of the giants." Charlie said.

"True,"

**"Blimey, Hagrid," said Ron quietly.**

**"So, how come it's taken you so long to get home if you were only there for three days?" asked Hermione.**

**"We didn' leave after three days!" said Hagrid, looking outraged. "Dumbledore was relyin' on us!"**

**"But you've just said there was no way you could go back!"**

**"Not by daylight we couldn', no. We just had ter rethink a bit. Spent a couple o' days lyin' low up in the cave an' watchin'. An' wha' we saw wasn' good."**

"I don't like the sound of this." Remus said.

**"No," said Hagrid, "I wish he had."**

"Death Eaters,"

**"What d'you mean?"**

**"I mean we soon found out he didn' object ter all wizards - just us."**

**"Death Eaters?" said Cris quickly.**

**"Yep," said Hagrid darkly. "Couple of 'em were visitin' him ev'ry day, bringin' gifts ter the Gurg, an' he wasn' dangling them upside-down." **

"That's not good," Moony said.

"Nope,"

**"How d'you know they were Death Eaters?" said Ron.**

**"Because I recognized one of 'em," Hagrid growled. "Macnair, remember him? Bloke they sent ter kill Buckbeak? Maniac, he is. Likes killin' as much as Golgomath; no wonder they were gettin' on so well."**

**"So Macnair's persuaded the giants to join You-Know-Who?" said Hermione desperately.**

**"Hold yer Hippogriffs, I haven' finished me story yet!" said Hagrid indignantly, who, considering he had not wanted to tell them anything in the first place, now seemed to be rather enjoying himself.**

"Of course," Charlie said with a smile.

"Hagrid," McGonagall said.

**"Me an' Olympe talked it over an' we agreed, jus' 'cause the Gurg looked like favorin' You-Know-Who didn' mean all of 'em would. We had ter try an' persuade some o' the others, the ones who hadn' wanted Golgomath as Gurg."**

"Good, they might agree to help." Ginny said.

**"How could you tell which ones they were?" asked Ron.**

**"Well, they were the ones bein' beaten to a pulp, weren' they?" said Hagrid patiently. "The ones with any sense were keepin' outta Golgomath's way, hidin' out in caves roun' the gully jus' like we were. So we decided we'd go pokin' round the caves by night an' see if we couldn' persuade a few o' them."**

"But wouldn't that bring attention to them?" Lily asked.

"There is a chance of that." Dumbledore said.

**"Well, it wasn' the giants who worried us most," said Hagrid. "We were more concerned abou' the Death Eaters. Dumbledore had told us before we wen' not ter tangle with 'em if we could avoid it, an' the trouble was they knew we was around — 'spect Golgomath told 'em abou' us. At night, when the giants were sleepin' an' we wanted ter be creepin' inter the caves, Macnair an' the other one were sneakin' round the mountains lookin' fer us. I was hard put to stop Olympe jumpin' out at 'em," said Hagrid, the corners of his mouth lifting his wild beard, "she was rarin' ter attack 'em… she's somethin' when she's roused, Olympe… fiery, yeh know… 'spect it's the French in her…"**

"Zat's right." Fleur said. Bill smiled at her and kissed her temple.

"That's why I love you." He whispered in her ear.

**Hagrid gazed misty-eyed into the fire. Cris allowed him thirty seconds of reminiscence before clearing her throat loudly.**

**"So, what happened? Did you ever get near any of the other giants?"**

**"What? Oh… oh, yeah, we did. Yeah, on the third night after Karkus was killed we crept outta the cave we'd bin hidin' in an' headed back down inter the gully, keepin' our eyes skinned fer the Death Eaters. Got inside a few o' the caves, no go - then, in abou' the sixth one, we found three giants hidin'."**

"Three of them? That's one big cave." Gwen said.

"Or small giants." Charlie said.

"That too," Gwen said.

**"Cave must've been cramped," said Ron.**

**"Wasn' room ter swing a Kneazle," said Hagrid.**

**"Didn't they attack you when they saw you?" asked Hermione.**

**"Probably woulda done if they'd bin in any condition," said Hagrid, "but they was badly hurt, all three o' them; Golgomath's lot had beaten 'em unconscious; they'd woken up an' crawled inter the nearest shelter they could find. Anyway, one o' them had a bit of English an' 'e translated fer the others, an' what we had ter say didn' seem ter go down too badly. So we kep' goin' back, visitin' the wounded… I reckon we had abou' six or seven o' them convinced at one poin'."**

"That's good," Ginny said.

"But he said at one point." Remus said.

"I wonder what happened." Robin said.

**"Six or seven?" said Ron eagerly.**

**"Well that's not bad - are they going to come over here and start fighting You-Know-Who with us?"**

**But Hermione said, "What do you mean 'one point', Hagrid?"**

**Hagrid looked at her sadly.**

**"Golgomath's lot raided the caves. The ones tha' survived didn' wan' no more ter to do with us after that."**

"Great," Bill said.

"This isn't going well for us." Tonks said.

"It didn't," Teddy muttered under his breath.

**"So… so there aren't any giants coming?" said Ron, looking disappointed.**

**"Nope," said Hagrid,**

"What about-" James started to ask before Scarlett covered his mouth.

"Not now," Scarlett hissed.

"What about what?" Bill asked.

"Nothing, you'll find out later." Scarlett said.

**heaving a deep sigh as he turned over his steak and applied the cooler side to his face, "but we did wha' we meant ter do, we g ave 'em Dumbledore's message an' some o' them heard it an' I spect some o' them'll remember it. Jus' maybe, them that don' want ter stay around Golgomath'll move outta the mountains, an' there's gotta be a chance they'll remember Dumbledore's friendly to 'em… could be they'll come."**

**Snow was filling up the window now. Cris became aware that the knees of her robes were soaked through: Fang was drooling with his head in Cris' lap. **

"He's such a friendly dog." Cris said.

"Of course he is." Padfoot said.

**"Hagrid?" said Hermione quietly after a while.**

**"Mmm?"**

**"Did you… was there any sign of… did you hear anything about your… your… mother while you were there?"**

"That's sweet of you to ask." Mrs. Weasley said.

**Hagrid's unobscured eye rested upon her and Hermione looked rather scared.**

**"I'm sorry… I… forget it -"**

**"Dead," Hagrid grunted. "Died years ago. They told me."**

"That sucks." Charlie said.

**"Oh… I'm… I'm really sorry" said Hermione in a very small voice. Hagrid shrugged his massive shoulders.**

**"No need," he said shortly. "Can't remember her much. Wasn' a great mother.**

**They were silent again. Hermione glanced nervously at Cris and Ron, plainly wanting them to speak.**

**"But you still haven't explained how you got in this state, Hagrid," Ron said, gesturing towards Hagrid's bloodstained face.**

**"Or why you're back so late," said Cris. "Sirius says Madame Maxime got back ages ago -"**

**"Who attacked you?" said Ron.**

**"I haven' bin attacked!" said Hagrid emphatically. "I -" **

"Then what happened?" Prongs asked.

"I don't know," Moony said.

**But the rest of his words were drowned in a sudden outbreak of rapping on the door. Hermione gasped; her mug slipped through her fingers and smashed on the floor; Fang yelped. All four of them stared at the window beside the doorway. The shadow of somebody small and squat rippled across the thin curtain.**

"Damnit, hide." Tonks said. Umbridge turned to look at the three a glare on her face.

"She can't get them into trouble; it's not against the rules to talk to a friend." Lily said.

"But they still need to hide." Prongs said.

"They have the cloak." Padfoot said.

**"It's her!" Ron whispered.**

**"Get under here!" Cris said quickly; seizing the Invisibility Cloak, she whirled it over herself and Hermione while Ron tore around the table and dived under the Cloak as well. Huddled together, they backed away into a corner. Fang was barking madly at the door. Hagrid looked thoroughly confused.**

"He doesn't know who it is." Bill said.

"He's in for a surprise." Charlie said.

**"Hagrid, hide our mugs!"**

**Hagrid seized Cris and Ron's mugs and shoved them under the cushion in Fang's basket. Fang was now leaping up at the door; Hagrid pushed him out of the way with his foot and pulled it open.**

**Professor Umbridge was standing in the doorway wearing her green tweed cloak and a matching hat with earflaps. **

"You know, I don't know which made her look worse." Cris said.

"Pink, definitely pink." Ginny said.

**Lips pursed, she leaned back so as to see Hagrid's face; she barely reached his navel.**

**"So," she said slowly and loudly, as though speaking to somebody deaf. "You're Hagrid, are you?"**

**Without waiting for an answer she strolled into the room, her bulging eyes rolling in every direction.**

**"Get away," she snapped, waving her handbag at Fang, who had bounded up to her and was attempting to lick her face.**

**"Er - I don' want ter be rude," said Hagrid, staring at her, "but who the ruddy hell are you?"**

"Like that isn't rude." Tonks snorted.

**"My name is Dolores Umbridge."**

**Her eyes were sweeping the cabin. Twice they stared directly into the corner where Cris stood, sandwiched between Ron and Hermione.**

**"Dolores Umbridge?" Hagrid said, sounding thoroughly confused. "I thought you were one o' them Ministry - don' you work with Fudge?"**

"At least he knows who she is." Sirius said.

**"I was Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, yes," said Umbridge, now pacing around the cabin, taking in every tiny detail within, from the haversack against the wall to the abandoned traveling cloak. "I am now the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher -"**

**"Tha's brave of yeh," said Hagrid, "there's not many'd take tha' job anymore."**

"Always count on Hagrid to interrupt her." Charlie said with a grin.

**"- and Hogwarts High Inquisitor," said Umbridge, giving no sign that she had heard him.**

**"Wha's that?" said Hagrid, frowning.**

**"Precisely what I was going to ask," said Umbridge, pointing at the broken shards of china on the floor that had been Hermione's mug.**

**"Oh," said Hagrid, with a most unhelpful glance towards the corner where Cris, Ron and Hermione stood hidden,**

"Don't give them away." Bill said.

**"oh, tha' was… was Fang. He broke a mug. So I had ter use this one instead."**

**Hagrid pointed to the mug from which he had been drinking, one hand still clamped over the dragon steak pressed to his eye. Umbridge stood facing him now, taking in every detail of his appearance instead of the cabin's.**

**"I heard voices," she said quietly.**

"Of course you did, it is a house, and people do talk in their own home." Sirius said.

"Now is not the time to be sarcastic, let's just hope that they aren't caught." Robin said.

**"I was talkin' ter Fang," said Hagrid stoutly.**

"Could work," Prongs said.

**"And was he talking back to you?"**

"Or not," Padfoot said.

**"Well… in a manner o' speaking," said Hagrid, looking uncomfortable. "I sometimes say Fang's near enough human -"**

**"There are three sets of footprints in the snow leading from the castle doors to your cabin," said Umbridge sleekly.**

"Crap," Sirius said.

"That's an honest mistake." Bill said.

**Hermione gasped; Cris clapped a hand over her mouth. Luckily, Fang was sniffing loudly around the hem of Professor Umbridge's robes and she did not appear to have heard.**

**"Well, I on'y jus' got back," said Hagrid, waving an enormous hand at the haversack. "Maybe someone came ter call earlier an' I missed 'em."**

"That's a good excuse." Padfoot said.

**"There are no footsteps leading away from your cabin door."**

"God, why can't she just shut up?" Tonks asked.

"No idea," Kingsley said.

**"Well, I… I don' know why that'd be…" said Hagrid, tugging nervously at his beard and again glancing towards the corner where Cris, Ron and Hermione stood, as though asking for help.**

**"Erm…"**

**Umbridge wheeled round and strode the length of the cabin, looking around carefully. She bent and peered under the bed. She opened Hagrid's cupboards. She passed within two inches of where Cris, Ron and Hermione stood pressed against the wall; Cris actually pulled in her stomach as she walked by. After looking carefully inside the enormous cauldron Hagrid used for cooking, she wheeled round again and said, "What has happened to you? How did you sustain those injuries?"**

**Hagrid hastily removed the dragon steak from his face, which in Cris' opinion was a mistake, because the black and purple bruising all around his eye was now clearly visible, not to mention the large amount of fresh and congealed blood on his face. "Oh, I… had a bit of an accident," he said lamely.**

**"What sort of accident?"**

**"I - I tripped."**

"Hagrid," groaned the pranksters.

"He needs to learn to lie better." Tonks said.

**"You tripped," she repeated coolly.**

**"Yeah, tha's right. Over… over a friend's broomstick.**

"And he just made it worse." Victoire said.

**I don' fly, meself. Well, look at the size o' me, I don' reckon there's a broomstick that'd hold me. Friend o' mine breeds Abraxan horses, I dunno if you've ever seen 'em, big beasts, winged, yeh know, I've had a bit of a ride on one o' them an' it was -" **

The room groaned, he just needs to stop while he's ahead.

**"Where have you been?" asked Umbridge, cutting coolly through Hagrid's babbling.**

**"Where've I -?"**

**"Been, yes," she said. "Term started two months ago. Another teacher has had to cover your classes. None of your colleagues has been able to give me any information as to your whereabouts. You left no address. Where have you been?"**

**There was a pause in which Hagrid stared at her with his newly uncovered eye. Cris could almost hear his brain working furiously.**

**"I - I've been away for me health," he said.**

"Hagrid!" was shouted by most of the group.

**"For your health," repeated Professor Umbridge. Her eyes traveled over Hagrid's discolored and swollen face; dragon blood dripped gently and silently on to his waistcoat.**

**"I see."**

**"Yeah," said Hagrid, "bit o' - o' fresh air, yeh know -"**

**"Yes, as gamekeeper fresh air must be so difficult to come by," said Umbridge sweetly. The small patch of Hagrid's face that was not black or purple, flushed.**

**"Well — change o' scene, yeh know –"**

**"Mountain scenery?" said Umbridge swiftly.**

"How did she know?" Sirius asked with a scowl.

"I don't know," Remus said wide-eyed.

**"She knows," Cris thought desperately.**

**"Mountains?" Hagrid repeated, clearly thinking fast. "Nope, South o' France fer me. Bit o' sun an'… an' sea."**

**"Really?" said Umbridge. "You don't have much of a tan."**

**"Yeah… well… sensitive skin," said Hagrid, attempting an ingratiating smile. Cris noticed that two of his teeth had been knocked out.**

"I want to know how he got like that." Padfoot said.

"I don't think we want to know." Lily said.

**Umbridge looked at him coldly; his smile faltered. Then she hoisted her handbag a little higher into the crook of her arm and said, "I shall, of course, be informing the Minister of your late return."**

**"Righ'," said Hagrid, nodding.**

**"You ought to know, too, that as High Inquisitor it is my unfortunate but necessary duty to inspect my fellow teachers. So I daresay we shall meet again soon enough." She turned sharply and marched back to the door.**

**"You're inspectin' us?" Hagrid repeated blankly, looking after her.**

**"Oh, yes," said Umbridge softly, looking back at him with her hand on the door handle. "The Ministry is determined to weed out unsatisfactory teachers, Hagrid. Goodnight."**

"If she gets rid of him I don't know what I'll do." Tonks said.

"He is a good teacher. Sure it's not really safe some of the time but they should know." Robin said.

**"Not yet," she breathed in her ear. "She might not be gone yet."**

**Hagrid seemed to be thinking the same way; he stumped across the room and pulled back the curtain an inch or so.**

**"She's goin' back ter the castle," he said in a low voice. "Blimey… inspectin' people, is she?"**

**"Yeah," said Cris, pulling off the Cloak. "Trelawney's on probation already…"**

**"Um… what sort of thing are you planning to do with us in class, Hagrid?" asked Hermione.**

**"Oh, don' you worry abou' that, I've got a great load o' lessons planned," said Hagrid enthusiastically, scooping up his dragon steak from the table and slapping it over his eye again.**

"I hope it's nothing too dangerous." Lily said.

"Knowing Hagrid, you never know." Kit said.

**"I've bin keepin' a couple o' creatures saved fer yer OWL year; you wait, they're somethin' really special."**

**"Erm… special in what way?" asked Hermione tentatively.**

**"I'm not sayin'," said Hagrid happily. "I don' wan t ter spoil the surprise."**

**"Look, Hagrid," said Hermione urgently, dropping all pretence, "Professor Umbridge won't be at all happy if you bring anything to class that's too dangerous."**

"No she won't," Alice said.

**"Dangerous?" said Hagrid, looking genially bemused. "Don' be silly, I wouldn' give yeh anythin' dangerous! I mean, all righ', they can look after themselves -"**

**"Hagrid, you've got to pass Umbridge's inspection, and to do that it would really be better if she saw you teaching us how to look after Porlocks, how to tell the difference between Knarls and hedgehogs, stuff like that!" said Hermione earnestly.**

**"But tha's not very interestin', Hermione," said Hagrid. "The stuff I've got's much more impressive. I've bin bringin' 'em on fer years, I reckon I've got the on'y domestic herd in Britain."**

"Threstals," Bill said.

"They're dangerous!" Fudge exclaimed.

"They've been pulling the carts at Hogwarts years with no incidences." McGonagall said.

"Other than students being startled for a bit." Charlie said.

**"Hagrid… please…" said Hermione, a note of real desperation in her voice. "Umbridge is looking for any excuse to get rid of teachers she thinks are too close to Dumbledore. Please, Hagrid, teach us something dull that's bound to come up in our OWL."**

"I hope he listens to her." Tonks said.

"I do too," Charlie said.

**But Hagrid merely yawned widely and cast a one-eyed look of longing towards the vast bed in the corner.**

**"Lis'en, it's bin a long day an' it's late," he said, patting Hermione gently on the shoulder, so that her knees gave way and hit the floor with a thud. "Oh - sorry -" He pulled her back up by the neck of her robes. "Look, don' you go worryin' abou' me, I promise yeh I've got really good stuff planned fer yer lessons now I'm back… now you lot had better get back up to the castle, an' don' forget ter wipe yer footprints out behind yeh!" **

"Should have done that in the first place." Padfoot said.

"We didn't think she would be there." Hermione said.

**"I dunno if you got through to him," said Ron a short while later when, having checked that the coast was clear, they walked back up to the castle through the thickening snow, leaving no trace behind them due to the Obliteration Charm Hermione was performing as they went.**

**"Then I'll go back again tomorrow," said Hermione determinedly. "I'll plan his lessons for him if I have to. I don't care if she throws out Trelawney but she's not getting rid of Hagrid!"**

"Good for you Hermione." Charlie said.

"That's the chapter." Lily J said.

"I think it is time for lunch." Mrs. Weasley said getting up. Some of the girls followed after her to help. Lily, Lily J, Victoire, Scarlett and Kit got up to help leaving the rest to talk.


	23. Chapter 21: The Eye and the Snake

Fred, Cris and George were cuddled together on the couch with the book in Fred's lap. Cris was looking at it curiously.

"What chapter is next?" Cris asked. Fred shrugged and flipped to the chapter they were going to read next.

"It's the Eye and the Snake, why?" Fred asked. Cris paled, and looked down.

"I think this might be the vision I had of your dad getting attacked." Cris whispered. George pulled her closer to him and kissed her quickly just as the girls brought out the sandwiches for lunch.

"Don't worry about; I'm sure Gred can handle it." George said. Cris nodded and took a sandwich.

"All right, let's get started." Sirius said.

"**Chapter 21: The Eye and the Snake," **Fred read.

"What does that mean?" Padfoot asked. The Weasley's paled at that knowing what was going to be coming up.

"You'll find out, dad." Scarlett said. Padfoot pouted and Fred started the chapter.

**Hermione ploughed her way back to Hagrid's cabin through two feet of snow on Sunday morning. Cris and Ron wanted to go with her, but their mountain of homework had reached an alarming height again, so they remained grudgingly in the common room, trying to ignore the gleeful shouts drifting up from the grounds outside, where students were enjoying themselves skating on the frozen lake, tobogganing and, worst of all, bewitching snowballs to zoom up to Gryffindor Tower and rap hard on the windows.**

**"****Oy!" bellowed Ron, finally losing patience and sticking his head out of the window, "I am a prefect and if one more snowball hits this window -OUCH!"**

**He withdrew his head sharply, his face covered in snow.**

Fred and George high-fived each other at that.

"You two did that?" Sirius asked.

"Yep," they said.

**"****It's Fred and George," he said bitterly, slamming the window behind him. "Gits…"**

**Cris couldn't help but giggle and blush at the same time. Ron looked up at her.**

"**Speaking of them, what is going on between the three of you?" he asked.**

"**Nothing," Cris said going back to her homework. Ron however was still watching her wanting to know but decided to go back to his homework as well.**

"I wanted to talk to you but I had no idea how." Ron said.

"It's okay," Cris said with a smile.

**Hermione returned from Hagrid's just before lunch, shivering slightly, her robes damp to the knees.**

**"****So?" said Ron, looking up when she entered. "Got all his lessons planned for him?"**

**"****Well, I tried," she said dully, sinking into a chair beside Cris. She pulled out her wand and gave it a complicated little wave so that hot air streamed out of the tip; she then pointed this at her robes, which began to steam as they dried out. "He wasn't even there when I arrived; I was knocking for at least half an hour. And then he came stumping out of the Forest -"**

"Well at least he's working on a lesson." Charlie said.

"I don't want to know what kind of lesson it is." Bill said.

"Hopefully nothing too dangerous." Mrs. Weasley said.

**Hagrid's reappearance at the staff table at breakfast next day was not greeted by enthusiasm from all students. Some, like Fred, George and Lee, roared with delight and sprinted up the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables to wring Hagrid's enormous hand; others, like Parvati and Lavender, exchanged gloomy looks and shook their heads. Cris knew that many of them preferred Professor Grubbly-Plank's lessons, and the worst of it was that a very small, unbiased part of her knew that they had good reason: Grubbly-Plank's idea of an interesting class was not one where there was a risk that somebody might have their head ripped off. **

"That's Hagrid for you though." Charlie said.

"I know, her lessons were just as good though." Cris said.

**It was with a certain amount of apprehension that Cris, Ron and Hermione headed down to Hagrid's on Tuesday, heavily muffled against the cold. Cris was worried, not only about what Hagrid might have decided to teach them, but also about how the rest of the class, particularly Malfoy and his cronies, would behave if Umbridge was watching them.**

**However, the High Inquisitor was nowhere to be seen as they struggled through the snow towards Hagrid, who stood waiting for them on the edge of the Forest. He did not present a reassuring sight; the bruises that had been purple on Saturday night were now tinged with green and yellow and some of his cuts still seemed to be bleeding. **

"What in the world happened to him?" Gwen murmured.

**Cris could not understand this: had Hagrid perhaps been attacked by some creature whose venom prevented the wounds it inflicted from healing? As though to complete the ominous picture, Hagrid was carrying what looked like half a dead cow over his shoulder. **

"So he's doing Threstals," Bill said.

"That's not too bad." Prongs said.

**"****We're workin' in here today!" Hagrid called happily to the approaching students, jerking his head back at the dark trees behind him. "Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark."**

**"****What prefers the dark?" Cris heard Malfoy say sharply to Crabbe and Goyle, a trace of panic in his voice. "What did he say prefers the dark - did you hear?"**

"Well yeah, the last time I went into the forest V-V-Voldemort was in there." Draco said stuttering over the name.

**Cris remembered the only other occasion on which Malfoy had entered the Forest before now; he had not been very brave then, either. She smiled to herself; after the Quidditch match anything that caused Malfoy discomfort was all right with her.**

"I wish you didn't fight him." Lily said.

"I'm sorry I snapped." Cris said.

"I shouldn't have goaded you." Draco said.

**"****Ready?" said Hagrid cheerfully, looking around at the class. "Right, well, I've bin savin' a trip inter the Forest fer yer fifth year. Thought we'd go an' see these creatures in their natural habitat. Now, what we're studyin' today is pretty rare, I reckon I'm probably the on'y person in Britain who's managed ter train 'em."**

**"****And you're sure they're trained, are you?" said Malfoy, the panic in his voice even more pronounced. "Only it wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff to class, would it?"**

"I really should have listened to that first class." Draco said.

"Ya think," Ron said.

**The Slytherins murmured agreement and a few Gryffindors looked as though they thought Malfoy had a fair point, too.**

**"****Course they're trained," said Hagrid, scowling and hoisting the dead cow a little higher on his shoulder.**

**"****So what happened to your face, then?" demanded Malfoy.**

**"****Mind yer own business!" said Hagrid, angrily. "Now, if yeh've finished askin' stupid questions, follow me!"**

"Well they aren't really stupid questions, just fair questions." Lily said.

"Very true," Kit said.

**He turned and strode straight into the Forest. Nobody seemed much disposed to follow. Cris glanced at Ron and Hermione, who sighed but nodded, and the three of them set off after Hagrid, leading the rest of the class.**

**They walked for about ten minutes until they reached a place where the trees stood so closely together that it was as dark as twilight and there was no snow at all on the ground. With a grunt, Hagrid deposited his half a cow on the ground, stepped back and turned to face his class, most of whom were creeping from tree to tree towards him, peering around nervously as though expecting to be set upon at any moment. **

"Not unless you've seen death." Sirius said sadly.

"Can you see them?" Cris asked curiously.

"Yeah, the first war did a number on all of us." Remus said. Their younger versions looked very apprehensive at that.

**"****Gather roun', gather roun'," Hagrid encouraged. "Now, they'll be attracted by the smell o' the meat but I'm goin' ter give 'em a call anyway, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me."**

**He turned, shook his shaggy head to get the hair out of his face and gave an odd, shrieking cry that echoed through the dark trees like the call of some monstrous bird. Nobody laughed: most of them looked too scared to make a sound.**

**Hagrid gave the shrieking cry again. A minute passed in which the class continued to peer nervously over their shoulders and around trees for a first glimpse of whatever it was that was coming. And then, as Hagrid shook his hair back for a third time and expanded his enormous chest, Cris nudged Ron and pointed into the black space between two gnarled yew trees.**

**A pair of blank, white, shining eyes were growing larger through the gloom and a moment later the dragonish face, neck and then skeletal body of a great, black, winged horse emerged from the darkness.**

"Well at least now you won't think that you're going crazy." Prongs said.

**It surveyed the class for a few seconds, swishing its long black tail, then bowed its head and began to tear flesh from the dead cow with its pointed fangs.**

**A great wave of relief broke over Cris. Here at last was proof that she had not imagined these creatures, that they were real:**

**Hagrid knew about them too. She looked eagerly at Ron, but Ron was still staring around into the trees and after a few seconds he whispered, "Why doesn't Hagrid call again?"**

"I'm sorry," Ron said.

"It's alright," Cris said. "it's actually good that you can't see them."

"A lot of you see them in the future." Keiran said sadly.

"Who do we see die?" Hermione asked.

"It's a war, I don't know for sure." Keiran said.

**Most of the rest of the class were wearing expressions as confused and nervously expectant as Ron's and were still gazing everywhere but at the horse standing feet from them. There were only two other people who seemed to be able to see them: a stringy Slytherin boy standing just behind Goyle was watching the horse eating with an expression of great distaste on his face; and Neville, whose eyes were following the swishing progress of the long black tail.**

"So many of you." Lily said.

You should have seen our class." Bill said. "Nearly all of us could see them."

"That was right after the war as well." Charlie said.

**"****Oh, an' here comes another one!" said Hagrid proudly, as a second black horse appeared out of the dark trees, folded its leathery wings closer to its body and dipped its head to gorge on the meat. "Now… put yer hands up, who can see 'em?"**

**Immensely pleased to feel that she was at last going to understand the mystery of these horses, Cris raised her hand. Hagrid nodded at her.**

**"****Yeah… yeah, I knew you'd be able ter, Harry," he said seriously. "An' you too, Neville, eh? An' -"**

**"****Excuse me," said Malfoy in a sneering voice, "but what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?"**

"I really had no idea what they were talking about." Draco said. "When Theo told me described it to me I was grateful that I didn't see it.

"You should be, it's not a pretty sight." Luna said.

**For an answer, Hagrid pointed at the cow carcass on the ground. The whole class stared at it for a few seconds, then several people gasped and Parvati squealed. Cris understood why: bits of flesh stripping themselves away from the bones and vanishing into thin air had to look very odd indeed.**

**"****What's doing it?" Parvati demanded in a terrified voice, retreating behind the nearest tree.**

**"****What's eating it?"**

**"****Thestrals," said Hagrid proudly and Hermione gave a soft "Oh!" of comprehension at Cris' shoulder. "Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em in here. Now, who knows -?"**

**"****But they're really, really unlucky!" interrupted Parvati, looking alarmed. "They're supposed to bring all sorts of horrible misfortune on people who see them. Professor Trelawney told me once -" **

"They aren't unlucky." Cris said.

"Well you can see them and you have horrible luck." Gwen said.

"I had horrible luck even before I could see them." Cris countered.

**"****No, no, no," said Hagrid, chuckling, "tha's jus' superstition, that is, they aren' unlucky, they're dead clever an' useful! Course, this lot don' get a lot o' work, it's mainly jus' pullin' the school carriages unless Dumbledore's takin' a long journey an' don' want ter Apparate - an' here's another couple, look -"**

**Two more horses came quietly out of the trees, one of them passing very close to Parvati, who shivered and pressed herself closer to the tree, saying, "I think I felt something, I think it's near me!"**

"Well yeah, it's like a ghost but you can't see it." Hermione said.

**"****Don' worry, it won' hurt yen," said Hagrid patiently. "Righ', now, who can tell me why some o' yeh can see 'em an' some can't?"**

**Hermione raised her hand.**

**"****Go on then," said Hagrid, beaming at her.**

**"****The only people who can see Thestrals," she said, "are people who have seen death."**

"Can you tell us when we saw them?" Hermione asked the future kids.

"I think we can do that." Teddy said. Victoire turned and nodded.

"Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione since their seventh year. Aunt Ginny since sixth and Uncle Draco since his sixth year." Victoire said. They looked at each other worriedly that will come all too soon.

"Draco I know now you are with us but you decided to turn against soon after Voldemort's defeat." Teddy said. Draco nodded knowing he was going change now that he knew the truth.

**"****Tha's exactly right," said Hagrid solemnly, "ten points ter Gryffindor. Now, Thestrals -"**

**"****Hem, hem."**

"Great, just great it's Umbitch." Charlie growled.

**Professor Umbridge had arrived. She was standing a few feet away from Cris, wearing her green hat and cloak again, her clipboard at the ready. Hagrid, who had never heard Umbridge's fake cough before, was gazing in some concern at the closest Thestral, evidently under the impression that it had made the sound.**

"That is just like Hagrid," Charlie said with a laugh.

**"****Hem, hem."**

**"****Oh, hello!" Hagrid said, smiling, having located the source of the noise.**

**"****You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?" said Umbridge, in the same loud, slow voice she had used with him earlier, as though she were addressing somebody both foreign and very slow. **

"You know, he can understand you perfectly." Bill said.

"He may be half giant but that doesn't mean he is stupid." Charlie said.

**"****Telling you that I would be inspecting your lesson?"**

**"****Oh, yeah," said Hagrid brightly. "Glad yeh found the place all righ'! Well, as you can see - or, I dunno - can you? We're doin' Thestrals today -"**

**"****I'm sorry?" said Professor Umbridge loudly, cupping her hand around her ear and frowning. "What did you say?"**

**Hagrid looked a little confused.**

**"Er - Thestrals!" he said loudly. "Big - er - winged horses, yeh know!"**

**He flapped his gigantic arms hopefully. Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows at him and muttered as she made a note on her clipboard: "Has… to… resort… to… crude… sign… language."**

"Well if you had listened you would have understood it to begin with." Charlie said.

"Yeah, he thought you were the dumb one." Bill said laughing. Umbridge scowled at the group but didn't say anything.

**"****Well… anyway…" said Hagrid, turning back to the class and looking slightly flustered, "erm… what was I sayin'?"**

**"****Appears… to… have… poor… short… term… memory," muttered Umbridge, loudly enough for everyone to hear her. Draco Malfoy looked as though Christmas had come a month early; Hermione, on the other hand, had turned scarlet with suppressed rage.**

"Hermione don't pull a Cris." Charlie said.

"Hey!" Cris shouted.

"You know it's true," Bill said.

**"****Oh, yeah," said Hagrid, throwing an uneasy glance at Umbridge's clipboard, but ploughing on valiantly. "Yeah, I was gonna tell yeh how come we got a herd. Yeah, so, we started off with a male an' five females. This one," he patted the first horse to have appeared, "name o' Tenebrus, he's my special favorite, firs' one born here in the Forest -"**

**"****Are you aware," Umbridge said loudly, interrupting him, "that the Ministry of Magic has classified Thestrals as 'dangerous'?"**

"Yet they are used to pull the carriages even when you were at school." Dumbledore said to the Ministry officials. Umbridge paled because through all that time never once was there a report of Thestral attacks.

**Cris' heart sank like a stone, but Hagrid merely chuckled.**

**"****Thestrals aren' dangerous! All righ', they might take a bite outta yeh if yeh really annoy them -"**

"Hagrid," groaned most of the room.

**"****Shows… signs… of… pleasure… at… idea… of… violence," muttered Umbridge, scribbling on her clipboard again.**

"No, he isn't violent." Charlie said.

"I find that hard to believe." Fudge said.

"Yet you've seen proof that he cares very much about the students." McGonagall said.

**"****No - come on!" said Hagrid, looking a little anxious now. "I mean, a dog'll bite if yeh bait it, won' it - but Thestrals have jus' got a bad reputation because o' the death thing - people used ter think they were bad omens, didn' they? Jus' didn' understand, did they?"**

**Umbridge did not answer; she finished writing her last note, then looked up at Hagrid and said, again very loudly and slowly, "Please continue teaching as usual. I am going to walk," she mimed walking (Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson were having silent fits of laughter) "among the students" (she pointed around at individual members of the class) "and ask them questions." She pointed at her mouth to indicate talking.**

"He can understand you, you know. You don't have to treat him like an idiot." Charlie snarled.

'He's a filthy half-breed, he can't understand a thing.' Umbridge sneered in her head.

**Hagrid stared at her, clearly at a complete loss to understand why she was acting as though he did not understand normal English. Hermione had tears of fury in her eyes now.**

**"****You hag, you evil hag!" she whispered, as Umbridge walked towards Pansy Parkinson. "I know what you're doing, you awful, twisted, vicious -"**

"You are so lucky she didn't hear you." Sirius said.

"I know," Hermione said with a smile. Umbridge turned to glare at the girl but everyone was glaring at her instead.

**"****Erm… anyway," said Hagrid, clearly struggling to regain the flow of his lesson, "so - Thestrals. Yeah. Well, there's loads o' good stuff abou' them…"**

**"****Do you find," said Professor Umbridge in a ringing voice to Pansy Parkinson, "that you are able to understand Professor Hagrid when he talks?"**

**Just like Hermione, Pansy had tears in her eyes, but these were tears of laughter; indeed, her answer was almost incoherent because she was trying to suppress her giggles.**

**"****No… because… well… it sounds… like grunting a lot of the time."**

"Yeah right, I haven't even met him and I can understand him perfectly." Gwen said.

"That's just goes to show that she is prejudice against people she doesn't understand." Cris said glaring at the toad.

**Umbridge scribbled on her clipboard. The few unbruised bits of Hagrid's face flushed, but he tried to act as though he had not heard Pansy's answer.**

**"****Er… yeah… good stuff abou' Thestrals. Well, once they're tamed, like this lot, yeh'll never be lost again. 'Mazin' sense o' direction, jus' tell 'em where yeh want ter go -"**

"That is very true." Keiran said. He remembered the story about his dad's scar on his shoulder when he asked him about it and was very glad Cris and the others were there to get him even though it was a trap.

**"****Assuming they can understand you, of course," said Malfoy loudly, and Pansy Parkinson collapsed in a fit of renewed giggles. **

**Professor Umbridge smiled indulgently at them and then turned to Neville.**

**"****You can see the Thestrals, Longbottom, can you?" she said.**

**Neville nodded.**

**"****Who did you see die?" she asked, her tone indifferent.**

"How dare you, someone dies and you don't give a damn. What kind of woman are you?" Gwen asked.

"The kind that has no soul." Cris said seriously.

"Actually, I think that might be true." Remus said with a laugh.

**"****My… my granddad," said Neville.**

Neville looked down; his granddad was a good guy and missed him every day.

"I'm sorry Nev," Ginny said kissing his cheek.

"Those who die never really leave us Nev." Cris said.

"Thanks Cris," Neville said.

**"****And what do you think of them?" she said, waving her stubby hand at the horses, who by now had stripped a great deal of the carcass down to bone.**

**"****Erm," said Neville nervously, with a glance at Hagrid. "Well, they're… er… okay…"**

**"****Students… are… too… intimidated… to… admit… they… are… frightened," muttered Umbridge, making another note on her clipboard.**

"I wasn't nervous, I just don't like her." Neville said.

"None of us do." Cris said.

"That's just an understatement." George said.

**"****No!" said Neville, looking upset. "No, I'm not scared of them!"**

**"****It's quite all right," said Umbridge, patting Neville on the shoulder with what she evidently intended to be an understanding smile, though it looked more like a leer to Cris. "Well, Hagrid," she turned to look up at him again, speaking once more in that loud, slow voice, "I think I've got enough to be getting along with. You will receive" (she mimed taking something from the air in front of her) "the results of your inspection" (she pointed at the clipboard) "in ten days' time." She held up ten stubby little fingers, then, her smile wider and more toad like than ever before beneath her green hat, she bustled from their midst, leaving Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson in fits of laughter, Hermione actually shaking with fury and Neville looking confused and upset.**

**"****That foul, lying, twisting old gargoyle!" stormed Hermione half an hour later, as they made their way back up to the castle through the channels they had made earlier in the snow. "You see what she's up to? It's her thing about half-breeds all over again - she's trying to make out Hagrid's some kind of dimwitted troll, just because he had a giantess for a mother - and oh, it's not fair, that really wasn't a bad lesson at all - I mean, all right, if it had been Blast-Ended Skrewts again, but Thestrals are fine - in fact, for Hagrid, they're really good!" **

"That's true," Lily said.

"It was a very good lesson." Cris said.

**"****Umbridge said they're dangerous," said Ron.**

"Don't believe everything she says." Remus said.

"I know, it was just because I couldn't see them." Ron said.

"It's understandable," Robin said.

**"****Well, it's like Hagrid said, they can look after themselves," said Hermione impatiently, "and I suppose a teacher like Grubbly-Plank wouldn't usually show them to us before NEWT level, but, well, they are very interesting, aren't they? The way some people can see them and some can't! I wish I could."**

"Do you really?" Tonks asked.

"Not anymore." Hermione said.

**"Do you?" Cris asked her quietly.**

**She looked suddenly horrorstruck.**

**"****Oh, Cris - I'm sorry - no, of course I don't - that was a really stupid thing to say."**

**"****It's okay," she said quickly, "don't worry"**

**"****I'm surprised so many people could see them," said Ron. "Three in a class -"**

"It's nothing compared to after the war." Keiran said.

"Or the first war as well." Bill said.

**"****Yeah, Weasley, we were just wondering," said a malicious voice. Unheard by any of them in the muffling snow, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were walking along right behind them. "D'you reckon if you saw someone snuff it you'd be able to see the Quaffle better?"**

"Shut it," snarled the room. Draco shrunk back and looked down it was a stupid thing to say.

**He, Crabbe and Goyle roared with laughter as they pushed past on their way to the castle, then broke into a chorus of "Weasley is our King". Ron's ears turned scarlet.**

**"****Ignore them, just ignore them," intoned Hermione, pulling out her wand and performing the charm to produce hot air again, so that she could melt them an easier path through the untouched snow between them and the greenhouses.**

**December arrived, bringing with it more snow and a positive avalanche of homework for the fifth-years. Ron and Hermione's prefect duties also became more and more onerous as Christmas approached. They were called upon to supervise the decoration of the castle ("You try putting up tinsel when Peeves has got the other end and is trying to strangle you with it," said Ron),**

"Yeah, that's always fun." Bill said.

"Peeves does that a lot." Remus said.

**to watch over first- and second-years spending their break-times inside because of the bitter cold ("And they're cheeky little snot-rags, you know, we definitely weren't that rude when we were in first year," said Ron) **

"Um, I think we were worse." Cris said.

"Well not with the cheekiness but definitely with the trouble making." McGonagall said.

"And it was all for a good reason." Cris said.

**and to patrol the corridors in shifts with Argus Filch, who suspected that the holiday spirit might show itself in an outbreak of wizard duels ("He's got dung for brains, that one," said Ron furiously). They were so busy that Hermione had even stopped knitting elf hats and was fretting that she was down to her last three.**

**"****All those poor elves I haven't set free yet, having to stay here over Christmas because there aren't enough hats!"**

"Um Hermione, you should really stop, it's just Dobby and Winky who are taking them all." Charlie said.

"I will when we get out of here." Hermione said.

**Cris, who had not had the heart to tell her that Dobby was taking everything she made, bent lower over her History of Magic essay.**

"You should have told me." Hermione said.

"I didn't know how and I didn't want to hurt your feelings." Cris said.

**In any case, she did not want to think about Christmas. For the first time in her school career, she very much wanted to spend the holidays away from Hogwarts. Between her Quidditch ban and worry about whether or not Hagrid was going to be put on probation, she felt highly resentful towards the place at the moment. The only thing she really looked forward to were the D.A. meetings, and they would have to stop over the holidays, as nearly everybody in the D.A. would be spending the time with their families. Hermione was going skiing with her parents, something that greatly amused Ron, who had never heard of Muggles strapping narrow strips of wood on to their feet to slide down mountains. Ron was going home to The Burrow. Cris endured several days of envy before Ron said, in response to Cris asking him how he was going to get home for Christmas: "But you're coming too! Didn't I say? Mum wrote and told me to invite you weeks ago!" **

"You should have said something sooner Ron." Ginny said.

"I know," Ron said.

"But aren't you spending Christmas with Sirius?" Prongs asked.

"We are," Cris and the younger Weasley's said.

"Why, what happened to change that?" Lily asked.

"You'll see." They said.

**Hermione rolled her eyes, but Cris' spirits soared: the thought of Christmas at The Burrow was truly wonderful, though slightly marred by Cris' guilty feeling that she would not be able to spend the holiday with Sirius. She wondered whether she could possibly persuade Mrs. Weasley to invite her godfather for the festivities. **

"I would have if you wanted that." Mrs. Weasley said. Cris and Sirius smiled widely at Mrs. Weasley.

**Even though she doubted whether Dumbledore would permit Sirius to leave Grimmauld Place anyway, she could not help but think Mrs. Weasley might not want him; they were so often at loggerheads. Sirius had not contacted Cris at all since his last appearance in the fire, and although Cris knew that with Umbridge on constant watch it would be unwise to attempt to contact him, she did not like to think of Sirius alone in his mother's old house, perhaps pulling a lonely cracker with Kreacher. **

"Well I was lonely but I had some company every once and a while." Sirius said smiling at Robin. Robin smiled and lightly kissed him before Fred continued reading.

**Cris arrived early in the Room of Requirement for the last D.A. meeting before the holidays and was very glad she had, because when the lamps burst into light he saw that Dobby had taken it upon himself to decorate the place for Christmas. She could tell the elf had done it, because nobody else would have strung a hundred golden baubles from the ceiling, each showing a picture of Cris' face and bearing the legend: HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!**

"You could have kept it up." Ginny said.

"I would have loved it." Neville said.

**Cris had only just managed to get the last of them down before the door creaked open and Luna Lovegood entered, looking as dreamy as always.**

**"****Hello," she said vaguely, looking around at what remained of the decorations. "These are nice, did you put them up?"**

**"****No," said Cris, "it was Dobby the house-elf."**

**"****Mistletoe," said Luna dreamily, pointing at a large clump of white berries placed almost over Cris' head. **

"Someone has to kiss you now." The twins said each kissing her cheeks at the same time.

"Nobody did kiss you though, did they?" Prongs asked.

"I'm not saying." Cris said.

**She jumped out from under it. "Good thinking," said Luna very seriously. "It's often infested with Nargles."**

"What are Nargles?" Lily asked. Before Luna could explain Fred continued reading.

**Cris was saved the necessity of asking what Nargles were by the arrival of Angelina, Katie and Alicia. All three of them were breathless and looked very cold.**

**"****Well," said Angelina dully, pulling off her cloak and throwing it into a corner, "we've finally replaced you."**

"It still sucks that you had to be replaced in the first place." Padfoot said.

"She didn't deserve it either." Kit said.

"I wonder who they got." Prongs said.

**"****Replaced me?" said Cris blankly.**

**"****You and Fred and George," she said impatiently. "We've got another Seeker!"**

**"****Who?" said Cris quickly.**

Ginny blushed and Fred laughed keeping the group in suspense before continuing to read.

**"****Ginny Weasley," said Katie.**

**Cris gaped at her.**

"I didn't really see you play before." Cris said.

"It's not a position I like to play but I'm pretty decent at it." Ginny said.

"What position do you prefer?" Padfoot asked.

"Chaser," Ginny said.

"I would play seeker if needed and one of the back-up chasers could play." Prongs said.

**"****Yeah, I know," said Angelina, pulling out her wand and flexing her arm, "but she's pretty good, actually. Nothing on you, of course," she said, throwing her a very dirty look, "but as we can't have you…"**

**Cris bit back the retort she was longing to utter: did she imagine for a second that she did not regret her expulsion from the team a hundred times more than she did?**

**"****And what about the Beaters?" she asked, trying to keep her voice even.**

**"****Andrew Kirke," said Alicia without enthusiasm, "and Jack Sloper. Neither of them are brilliant, but compared to the rest of the idiots who turned up…"**

"How bad were they?" Padfoot asked with a wince.

"You don't want to know." Ginny said.

**The arrival of Ron, Hermione and Neville brought this depressing discussion to an end, and within five minutes the room was full enough to prevent Cris seeing Angelina's burning, reproachful looks.**

**"****Okay," she said, calling them all to order. "I thought this evening we should just go over the things we've done so far, because it's the last meeting before the holidays and there's no point starting anything new right before a three-week break -" **

"That's actually a good idea." Lily said.

"I wish our professors were like that." Padfoot murmured.

**"****We're not doing anything new?" said Zacharias Smith, in a disgruntled whisper loud enough to carry through the room. "If I'd known that, I wouldn't have come."**

"Then you should have told him." Sirius muttered.

"Shh, I know he's a git but let Fred read." Robin said.

**"****We're all really sorry Cris didn't tell you, then," said Fred loudly.**

**Several people sniggered. Cris felt her breath hitch when Fred stood up for her, like he and George always do. She snapped out of it when Hermione nudged her. **

"Awww," the girls cooed.

**"- we can practice in pairs," said Cris. "We'll start with the Impediment Jinx, for ten minutes, then we can get out the cushions and try Stunning again."**

**They all divided up obediently; Cris partnered Neville as usual.**

"You should get another person." Tonks said.

"I'm glad it was Cris though, a little one on one is good." Neville said.

**The room was soon full of intermittent cries of "Impedimenta!" People froze for a minute or so, during which their partner would stare aimlessly around the room watching other pairs at work, then would unfreeze and take their turn at the jinx.**

**Neville had improved beyond all recognition. After a while, when Cris had unfrozen three times in a row, she had Neville join Ron and Hermione again so that she could walk around the room and watch the others. When she passed the twins they beamed at her; she resisted the temptation to walk past her several more times. **

"The crush is growing stronger." Lily and Mrs. Weasley said to themselves.

**After ten minutes on the Impediment Jinx, they laid out cushions all over the floor and started practicing Stunning again. Space was really too confined to allow them all to work this spell at once; half the group observed the others for a while, then swapped over.**

"Can the room expand?" Prongs asked.

"I don't know." Cris said.

"It can, Aunt Ginny and Uncle Neville told us." James said.

"How would we know?" Neville asked.

"It's in the seventh book." Lily J said.

**Cris felt herself positively swelling with pride as she watched them all. True, Neville did Stun Padma Patil rather than Dean, at whom he had been aiming, but it was a much closer miss than usual, and everybody else had made enormous progress.**

**At the end of an hour, Cris called a halt.**

**"****You're getting really good," she said, beaming around at them. "When we get back from the holidays we can start doing some of the big stuff - maybe even Patronuses."**

"Sweet!" Charlie and Bill said.

"I wonder if I was successful." Cris said.

"I hope so," Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny, Fred, George and Luna said.

**There was a murmur of excitement. The room began to clear in the usual twos and threes; most people wished Cris a "Happy Christmas" as they went. Feeling cheerful, she collected up the cushions with Ron and Hermione and stacked them neatly away. Ron and Hermione left before she did; she hung back a little, because Fred and George were still there and she was hoping to receive a "Happy Christmas" from them.**

Fred grinned widely at this and everyone else shifted in their seats.

"Do we have to read this?" Prongs asked. "I'd rather not read about my daughter kissing or anything like that."

"We have before we can do it again." Lily said.

**"****No, you go on," she heard them say to Lee and her heart gave a jolt that seemed to take it into the region of the back of her throat.**

**She pretended to be straightening the cushion pile. She was quite sure they were alone now and waited for them to speak. They didn't speak but suddenly she was felt arms wrap around her and she yelped in alarm before she realized it was one of the twins but she didn't know which one.**

"**Now, now Crisy don't want to alarm anyone do we?" Fred asked from her side. George was the holding her in his arms.**

"You tend to do that a lot." Tonks said. Cris was in fact being held by George as Fred was reading.

"They're comfy," Cris said with a shrug.

"**Well sorry, I'm not used to people picking me up off the ground." Cris said with a smirk as she maneuvered herself out of George's hold. **

"How do you do that?" George asked.

"She's always been able to do that." Gwen said.

"It makes me good at escaping." Cris said.

"**So what's up?" Cris asked blushing now that her feet her flat on the floor. **

"**That my dear Miss Potter or should I say Prongslet is for you to find out." Fred said. Cris cocked her head; she never heard that name before now. **

"**How come you didn't tell us you knew who the Marauders were?" George asked with hurt look on his face. **

"**I'm sorry, Remus must have told you." Cris said careful not to mention her godfather in case somebody was listening in. **

"Good because that would be bad." Tonks said.

**A smirk spread across both of their faces as they looked at a spot above her head. Cris looked up to see mistletoe hanging right above her head. She attempted to step out from under it but Fred and George stopped her. **

"**Nah-uh young Cris, you can only be released by a kiss." Fred said. **

"**How did I know you would say that?" Cris said rolling her eyes. Before she knew it George stepped forward and leaned in closer to her. **

**They returned to the common room half an hour later to find Hermione and Ron in the best seats by the fire; nearly everybody else had gone to bed. Hermione was writing a very long letter; she had already filled half a roll of parchment, which was dangling from the edge of the table. Ron was lying on the hearthrug, trying to finish his Transfiguration homework. The twins had decided to head up to bed giving Cris a wink each before disappearing.**

"You know that homework was probably due the next day." Ron said.

"Probably," Cris said with a laugh.

**"What kept you?" he asked, as Cris sank into the armchair next to Hermione's.**

"The Twins, Ron keep up." Charlie said.

"I know now," Ron said.

**Cris didn't answer. She was in a state of shock. Half of her wanted to tell Ron and Hermione what had just happened, but the other half wanted to take the secret with her to the grave.**

**"Are you all right, Cris?" Hermione asked, peering at her over the tip of her quill.**

**Cris gave a half-hearted shrug. In truth, she didn't know whether she was all right or not.**

**"What's up?" said Ron, hoisting himself up on his elbow to get a clearer view of Cris. "What's happened?"**

"This," George said kissing Cris right then and there.

"And this." Fred said kissing her as well.

"Alright, I think we get it." Prongs said. Cris hair turned to the color of her skin to show her embarrassment.

**Cris didn't quite know how to set about telling them, and still wasn't sure whether she wanted to. Just as she had decided not to say anything, Hermione took matters out of her hands.**

**"Is it Fred and George?" she asked in a businesslike way. "Did they corner you after the meeting?"**

"How did you know?" George asked.

"You didn't come back until the same time as Cris." Hermione said.

**Numbly surprised, Cris nodded. Ron stared shocked before breaking off when Hermione caught his eye.**

**"So - er - what did she want?" he asked in a mock casual voice.**

**"They -" Cris began, rather hoarsely; he cleared his throat and tried again. "They - er -"**

**"Did you kiss?" asked Hermione briskly.**

"Right to the point, like always." Ginny said.

**Ron sat up so fast he sent his ink bottle flying all over the rug. Disregarding this completely, he stared avidly at Cris.**

**"Well?" he demanded.**

**Cris looked from Ron's expression of mingled curiosity and hilarity to Hermione's slight frown, and nodded.**

**"HA!"**

**Ron made a triumphant gesture with his fist and went into a raucous peal of laughter that made several timid-looking second-years over beside the window jump. A reluctant grin spread over Harry's face as he watched Ron rolling around on the hearthrug.**

**Hermione gave Ron a look of deep disgust and returned to her letter.**

**"Well?" Ron said finally, looking up at Cris. "How was it?"**

**Cris considered for a moment.**

George leaned over seeing the smirk on Fred's face and Cris' bright red face.

"**It was perfect and unexpected. George kissed me first then Fred. I still have butterflies in my stomach." Cris said with a smile on her face. **

"Awww," the girls cooed.

"**On second thought I don't want to hear about my brothers' sex life." Ron said with a weird look on his face. **

"**Then don't ask her and go to bed." Hermione said. Ron thought about it but returned to his essay. **

"**So which one do you like?" Ron asked. **

"**I like them both." Cris said. **

"**Is that even possible?" Ron asked sitting up again. Hermione scoffed at him and looked back at Cris. **

"**It is possible but if you want talk it over with Mrs. Weasley or with Lupin and Snuffles then do that." Hermione said. **

"**I think I'll do that." Cris said. **

"**So are you going to go on a date anytime soon?" Hermione asked again. Cris shrugged her shoulders in thought, she honestly didn't know and she doubted she'd get a chance to get them alone at the Burrow. **

"We will if you asked Bambi," George said. Cris smiled and nodded she didn't say anything though, she didn't want to hear about the dream she is about to have.

**She tried to imagine going somewhere with Fred and George — Hogsmeade, perhaps - and being alone with them for hours at a time. Of course, they would ask her out on a date soon, she could feel it though she didn't know when. It was time like this she wished she had a godmother instead of a godfather.**

"Oi!" Sirius said with a mock hurt expression.

"You do have a godmother Cris." Remus said.

"Really?" Cris asked. "Who?"

"It's Alice," Robin said.

"Me, really?" Alice asked.

"Yeah," Sirius said.

"Well at least she's responsible enough." Lily said. Cris and Neville glanced at each other and Cris got up and hugged Neville. Fred kept reading.

**"Oh well," said Hermione distantly, buried in her letter once more, "They'll have plenty of opportunities to ask you."**

**"What if she doesn't want to be asked?" said Ron, who had been watching Cris with an unusually shrewd expression on his face.**

**"Don't be silly," said Hermione vaguely, "Cris' liked them for ages, haven't you, Cris?"**

**She did not answer. Yes, she had liked Fred and George for ages, but whenever she had imagined a scene involving the three of them it had always featured them doing some prank or another and Cris couldn't help but smiled at the thought.**

"Oh no, don't you dare think about it." Lily said.

"Sorry," Cris said sheepishly.

**"Who're you writing the novel to, anyway?" Ron asked Hermione, trying to read the bit of parchment now trailing on the floor. Hermione hitched it up out of sight.**

**"Viktor."**

**"Krum?"**

**"How many other Viktor's do we know?"**

"Only one that I know of." Cris said cheekily.

"Shut it Bolt," Ron said.

"**Off of that note is the potion done?" Cris whispered. **

"**Yeah, it is. I already took three goblets filled with it." Hermione said putting down her quill and grabbing the three goblets and passed them to Ron and Cris. **

"**So all we do is drink this and we'll become our animagus form at will?" Ron asked.**

"**Pretty much," Cris said. **

"**Let's do it." Ron said. The three of them gulped it down. A weird twisting feeling in her gut and she could feel herself shrinking and her teeth elongating and something growing out behind her. She opened her eyes to see Ron as a red panda and Hermione as a brown wolf. Cris looked down at her leg to see it black but with blacker spots. With a pop they turned back to their human forms. **

"Is that really all it takes?" Ginny asked.

"It's takes a few months to make the potion and longer to register with the Ministry." McGonagall said.

"**What am I?" Cris asked right away.**

"**I think a cheetah; I've never seen coloring like that before." Hermione said.**

"**Well it does match our hair color." Ron said. **

**"Well, night," said Hermione, yawning widely as she set off up the girls' staircase.**

**"What does she see in Krum?" Ron demanded, as he and Cris climbed the boys' stairs.**

**"Well," said Cris, considering the matter, "I s'pose he's older, isn't he… and he's an international Quidditch player…"**

**"Yeah, but apart from that," said Ron, sounding aggravated. "I mean, he's a grouchy git, isn't he?"**

**"Bit grouchy, yeah," said Cris, whose thoughts were still on the transformation and the twins. **

"I'm not that grouchy, am I?" Viktor asked.

"You're not; I was just out of it." Cris said.

**They pulled off their robes and put on pajamas in silence; Dean, Seamus and Neville were already asleep. Cris took her contacts out and put the case on her bedside table and got into bed but did not pull the hangings closed around her four-poster; instead, she stared at the patch of starry sky visible through the window next to Neville's bed. If she had known, this time last night, that in twenty-four hours' time she would have kissed Fred and George Weasley…**

"It was amazing, wasn't." George said. Cris and Fred nodded all three had dreamy looks on their faces. Charlie threw a pillow at them and Fred looked sheepish and continued as everyone laughed at them.

**"Night," grunted Ron, from somewhere to her right.**

**"Night," said Cris.**

**She closed her eyes thinking of the kiss and wondering what the twins were doing now. Probably planning a prank and she really wanted to try to prank someone; after all it is in her blood.**

"You would be great at it." Prongs said.

"Yeah she would." George said in agreement.

**Neville snuffled in his sleep. An owl hooted somewhere out in the night.**

**Cris dreamed she was with the twins and she was pranking Malfoy. They turned his hair bright neon pink and made it change colors throughout the day if he tried to change it back. Fred then had the idea to prank the rest of the Slytherin team by making it so they miss every time they tried to score a goal.**

"Those are perfect," the marauders laughed. George was writing those down and McGonagall groaned and Draco looked fearful.

**The dream changed…**

Cris shared a look with George and snuggled closer fearful of what they were about to hear.

**Her body felt smooth, powerful and flexible. She was gliding between shining metal bars, across dark, cold stone… she was flat against the floor, sliding along on her belly… it was dark, yet she could see objects around her shimmering in strange, vibrant colors… she was turning her head… at first glance the corridor was empty… but no… a man was sitting on the floor ahead, his chin drooping on to his chest, his outline gleaming in the dark…**

Mr. Weasley stared wide eyed this was the attack on him while he was on guard duty. He shared a look with Mrs. Weasley and she immediately understood and grabbed his hand.

**Cris put out her tongue… she tasted the man's scent on the air… he was alive but drowsy… sitting in front of a door at the end of the corridor…**

**Cris longed to bite the man… but she must master the impulse… she had more important work to do… **

"He was trying to get in." Tonks muttered under her breath as the Order members sat up straighter listening to what happened just before they started reading the books.

**But the man was stirring… a silver Cloak fell from his legs as he jumped to his feet; and Cris saw his vibrant, blurred outline towering above him, saw a wand withdrawn from a belt… she had no choice… she reared high from the floor and struck once, twice, three times, plunging her fangs deeply into the man's flesh, feeling his ribs splinter beneath his jaws, feeling the warm gush of blood…**

Fred shivered and could feel Cris shaking beside him. George held her tighter and whispered words of comfort to her so Fred continued reading.

**The man was yelling in pain… then he fell silent… he slumped backwards against the wall… blood was splattering on to the floor…**

Mrs. Weasley had paled so much and was beginning to hyperventilate she had come so close to losing her husband, her soul mate.

Fred took a deep much needed breath and continued reading.

**Her forehead hurt terribly… it was aching fit to burst…**

**"****Cris! CRIS!"**

**She opened her eyes. Every inch of her body was covered in icy sweat; her bed covers were twisted all around her like a strait-jacket; she felt as though a white-hot poker were being applied to her forehead.**

**"****Cris!"**

**Ron was standing over her looking extremely frightened. There were more figures at the foot of Cris' bed. She clutched her head in her hands; the pain was blinding her… she rolled right over and vomited over the edge of the mattress.**

"Anyone would after seeing that." Amelia said.

"Was that real?" Fudge asked.

"It was," Cris mumbled.

"It is the connection between her and Voldemort." Dumbledore said.

"Is there something we can do?" Lily asked.

"Occulmency." Dumbledore said and left it at that.

**"****She's really ill," said a scared voice. "Should we call someone?"**

**"****Cris! Cris!"**

**She had to tell Ron, it was very important that she tell him… taking great gulps of air, Cris pushed herself up in bed, willing herself not to throw up again, the pain half-blinding her.**

"You're half blind anyway." George said in a half-joking way. It eased the tension a bit but Fred continued reading again.

**"****Your dad," she panted, her chest heaving. "Your dad's… been attacked…"**

"Well we know that you're alive." Moony said.

"It was very close." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Can we just finish this chapter please?" Cris asked shakily. Fred nodded and continued reading.

**"What?" said Ron uncomprehendingly.**

"We were all still tired," Ron mumbled.

"It was very late," Cris said.

**"****Your dad! He's been bitten, it's serious, there was blood everywhere…"**

"Please listen to her." Lily muttered under her breath.

**"****I'm going for help," said the same scared voice, and Cris heard footsteps running out of the dormitory.**

**"****Cris, mate," said Ron uncertainly, "you… you were just dreaming…"**

"That wasn't a dream; it was like the vision in fourth year." Remus said.

"I know, but she reacted differently, I didn't know it was the same." Ron said.

"Yeah, that could be a problem." Sirius muttered.

**"****No!" said Cris furiously; it was crucial that Ron understand. "It wasn't a dream… not an ordinary dream… I was there, I saw it… I did it…"**

"It wasn't you," George whispered in her ear. All she could do was nod and let Fred continue.

**She could hear Seamus and Dean muttering but did not care. The pain in her forehead was subsiding slightly, though she was still sweating and shivering feverishly. She retched again and Ron leapt backwards out of the way.**

**"****Cris, you're not well," he said shakily. "Neville's gone for help."**

"She never throws up, so yeah I was worried." Ron said. "And I was hoping that it was just a dream."

**"****I'm fine!" Cris choked, wiping her mouth on her pajamas and shaking uncontrollably.**

**"****There's nothing wrong with me, it's your dad you've got to worry about - we need to find out where he is - he's bleeding like mad - I was - it was a huge snake." **

"Nagini," the group whispered.

**She tried to get out of bed but Ron pushed her back into it; Dean and Seamus were still whispering somewhere nearby. Whether one minute passed or ten, Cris did not know; she simply sat there shaking, feeling the pain recede very slowly from her scar… then there were hurried footsteps coming up the stairs and she heard Neville's voice again.**

**"****Over here, Professor." **

"At least you got a Professor." Lily said sighing in relief.

**Professor McGonagall came hurrying into the dormitory in her tartan dressing gown, her glasses perched lopsidedly on the bridge of her bony nose.**

**"****What is it, Potter? Where does it hurt?"**

**She had never been so pleased to see her; it was a member of the Order of the Phoenix she needed now, not someone fussing over her and prescribing useless potions. **

"Yeah, as much as I love Poppy she isn't the best person for this type of situation." Prongs said.

**"****It's Ron's dad," she said, sitting up again. "He's been attacked by a snake and it's serious, I saw it happen."**

**"****What do you mean, you saw it happen?" said Professor McGonagall, her dark eyebrows contracting.**

"I'm sorry, Albus didn't inform me on these visions you've been having." McGonagall said glaring at the headmaster.

"I'm sorry Minerva; I was hoping that it wouldn't happen again." Dumbledore said.

**"****I don't know… I was asleep and then I was there…"**

**"****You mean you dreamed this?"**

"That's how it happened the last time." Cris said with a shrug.

**"****No!" said Cris angrily; would none of them understand? "I was having a dream at first about something completely different, something stupid… and then this interrupted it. It was real, I didn't imagine it. Mr. Weasley was asleep on the floor and he was attacked by a gigantic snake, there was a load of blood, he collapsed, someone's got to find out where he is…"**

"Just find him." Alice said gripping Frank's hand in a vice like grip. Alice was Molly's cousin and come to love Arthur and didn't want anything to happen to them.

**Professor McGonagall was gazing at her through her lopsided spectacles as though horrified at what she was seeing.**

"I just didn't want to believe it." McGonagall said.

"I didn't want to believe it either." Cris muttered.

**"****I'm not lying and I'm not mad!" Cris told her, her voice rising to a shout. "I tell you, I saw it happen!"**

**"****I believe you, Potter," said Professor McGonagall curtly. "Put on your dressing gown - we're going to see the Headmaster."**

"That's the chapter, can you handle the next chapter Cris?" Fred asked. Cris nodded and took the book.

"Just please hurry, this is really suspenseful." Alice said.


	24. Chapter 22: St Mungo's Hospital

"**Chapter 22: St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries," **Cris read.

"Good, you got him there okay." Lily breathed out a sigh of relief.

**Cris was so relieved she was taking her seriously that she did not hesitate, but jumped out of bed at once, pulled on her dressing gown and pushed her glasses back on to her****nose. She didn't want to bother with contacts**

**"****Weasley, you ought to come too," said Professor McGonagall.**

"I would have nicked your cloak and followed you guys if she didn't let me come." Ron said. Cris laughed and rolled her eyes knowing it was true.

**They followed Professor McGonagall past the silent figures of Neville, Dean and Seamus, out of the dormitory, down the spiral stairs into the common room, through the portrait hole and off along the Fat Lady's moonlit corridor. Cris felt as though the panic inside her might spill over at any moment; she wanted to run, to yell for Dumbledore; Mr. Weasley was bleeding as they walked along so sedately, and what if those fangs (Cris tried hard not to think 'my fangs') had been poisonous? **

"Were they?" Gwen asked shakily.

"They were, but not deadly." Mr. Weasley said. They breathed a sigh of relief and Cris kept reading.

**They passed Mrs. Norris, who turned her lamp like eyes upon them and hissed faintly, but Professor McGonagall said, "Shoo!" Mrs. Norris slunk away into the shadows, and in a few minutes they had reached the stone gargoyle guarding the entrance to Dumbledore's office.**

**"Fizzing Whizzbee," said Professor McGonagall.**

"Always with the candy." Prongs said with a laugh.

**The gargoyle sprang to life and leapt aside; the wall behind it split in two to reveal a stone staircase that was moving continually upwards like a spiral escalator. The three of them stepped on to the moving stairs; the wall closed behind them with a thud and they were moving upwards in tight circles until they reached the highly polished oak door with the brass knocker shaped like a griffin.**

**Though it was now well past midnight there were voices coming from inside the room, a positive babble of them. It sounded as though Dumbledore was entertaining at least a dozen people.**

"It's just the portraits." Padfoot said.

"He's probably going to use them to find Arthur." Alice said.

"They are useful," Dumbledore said.

**Professor McGonagall rapped three times with the griffin knocker and the voices ceased abruptly as though someone had switched them all off.**

"And now they are going to pretend to sleep." Bill said shaking his head.

**The door opened of its own accord and Professor McGonagall led Cris and Ron inside.**

**The room was in half-darkness; the strange silver instruments standing on tables were silent and still rather than whirring and emitting puffs of smoke as they usually did; the portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses covering the walls were all snoozing in their frames. Behind the door, a magnificent red and gold bird the size of a swan dozed on its perch with its head under its wing.**

**"Oh, it's you, Professor McGonagall… and… ah."**

"It seems he wasn't expecting either of you." Charlie said.

**Dumbledore was sitting in a high-backed chair behind his desk; he leaned forward into the pool of candlelight illuminating the papers laid out before him. He was wearing a magnificently embroidered purple and gold dressing gown over a snowy white nightshirt, but seemed wide awake, his penetrating light **

**"Professor Dumbledore, Potter has had a… well, a nightmare," said Professor McGonagall. "She says…"**

"Why do I get the feeling that Cris isn't going to like that?" Gwen asked.

**"It wasn't a nightmare," said Cris quickly.**

**Professor McGonagall looked round at Cris, frowning slightly.**

**"Very well, then, Potter, you tell the Headmaster about it."**

"You should have let her explain in the first place." Lily said.

**"I… well, I was asleep…" said Cris and, even in her terror and her desperation to make Dumbledore understand, she felt slightly irritated that the Headmaster was not looking at her, but examining his own interlocked fingers. "But it wasn't an ordinary dream… it was real… I saw it happen…" She took a deep breath, "Ron's dad - Mr. Weasley - has been attacked by a giant snake."**

**The words seemed to reverberate in the air after she had said them, sounding slightly ridiculous, even comic. There was a pause in which Dumbledore leaned back and stared meditatively at the ceiling. Ron looked from Cris to Dumbledore, white-faced and shocked.**

"You didn't understand at first?" Hermione asked.

"She wasn't making much sense in the dorm and when she finally said I didn't know how to react." Ron said.

**"How did you see this?" Dumbledore asked quietly, still not looking at Cris.**

**"Well… I don't know," said Cris, rather angrily - what did it matter? "Inside my head, I suppose -"**

**"You misunderstand me," said Dumbledore, still in the same calm tone. "I mean… can you remember — er - where you were positioned as you watched this attack happen? Were you perhaps standing beside the victim, or else looking down on the scene from above?"**

**This was such a curious question that Cris gaped at Dumbledore; it was almost as though he knew…**

**"I was the snake," she said. "I saw it all from the snake's point of view."**

"I understand why you didn't tell us that part." Ginny said.

"I didn't want you to hate me." Cris said.

"It isn't your fault that you can see these things." Fred said squeezing her shoulder. Cris nodded and continued reading.

**Nobody else spoke for a moment, then Dumbledore, now looking at Ron who was still white faced, asked in a new and sharper voice, "Is Arthur seriously injured?"**

**"Yes," said Cris emphatically - why were they all so slow on the uptake, did they not realize how much a person bled when fangs that long pierced their side? And why could Dumbledore not do her the courtesy of looking at her?**

"Why is that?" Sirius asked harshly.

"I'm sure it'll tell you later." Dumbledore said.

"It better be a good reason." Sirius growled.

**But Dumbledore stood up, so quickly it made Cris jump, and addressed one of the old portraits hanging very near the ceiling. "Everard?" he said sharply. "And you too, Dilys!"**

"Good those two will help." Remus said.

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked.

"They have other portraits elsewhere and are able to travel to them. These particular former headmasters have portraits at the Ministry and at St. Mungo's." Robin said.

**A sallow-faced wizard with a short black bangs and an elderly witch with long silver ringlets in the frame beside him, both of whom seemed to have been in the deepest of sleeps, opened their eyes immediately.**

**"You were listening?" said Dumbledore.**

**The wizard nodded; the witch said, "Naturally."**

**"The man has red hair and glasses," said Dumbledore. "Everard, you will need to raise the alarm, make sure he is found by the right people -"**

"Yeah that would be bad if he was found by the wrong people." Padfoot said.

**Both nodded and moved sideways out of their frames, but instead of emerging in neighboring pictures (as usually happened at Hogwarts) neither reappeared. One frame now contained nothing but a backdrop of dark curtain, the other a handsome leather armchair. Cris noticed that many of the other headmasters and mistresses on the walls, though snoring and drooling most convincingly, kept sneaking peeks at her from under their eyelids, and she suddenly understood who had been talking when they had knocked.**

"Wow, you're usually faster than that." Tonks said.

"I just had a freaky vision and I just woke up so yeah I was a little slow that time." Cris said.

"Don't blame you." Sirius said.

**"Everard and Dilys were two of Hogwarts's most celebrated Heads," Dumbledore said, now sweeping around Cris, Ron and Professor McGonagall to approach the magnificent sleeping bird on his perch beside the door. "Their renown is such that both have portraits hanging in other important wizarding institutions.**

**As they are free to move between their own portraits, they can tell us what may be happening elsewhere…"**

**"But Mr. Weasley could be anywhere!" said Cris. **

"I think he knows where he is Prongslet." Padfoot said.

"I hope so." Lily said.

**"Please sit down, all three of you," said Dumbledore, as though Cris had not spoken, "Everard and Dilys may not be back for several minutes. Professor McGonagall, if you could draw up extra chairs."**

**Professor McGonagall pulled her wand from the pocket of her dressing gown and waved it; three chairs appeared out of thin air, straight-backed and wooden, quite unlike the comfortable chintz armchairs that Dumbledore had conjured up at Cris' hearing. **

"It just depends on the person." Bill said.

"Interesting," Gwen said.

**Cris sat down, watching Dumbledore over her shoulder. Dumbledore was now stroking Fawkes's plumed golden head with one finger. The phoenix awoke immediately. He stretched his beautiful head high and observed Dumbledore through bright, dark eyes.**

**"We will need," Dumbledore said very quietly to the bird, "a warning."**

"It's about Umbridge, right?" Charlie asked.

"Yes, can you imagine what she would have done if she found out about that." McGonagall said.

"I don't want to think about it." Cris mumbled.

'She would have been expelled if I had anything to say about it.' Umbridge thought with a wicked grin that nobody noticed.

**There was a flash of fire and the phoenix had gone.**

**Dumbledore now swooped down upon one of the fragile silver instruments whose function Cris had never known, carried it over to his desk, sat down facing them again and tapped it gently with the tip of his wand.**

**The instrument tinkled into life at once with rhythmic clinking noises. Tiny puffs of pale green smoke issued from the minuscule silver tube at the top. Dumbledore watched the smoke closely, his brow furrowed. After a few seconds, the tiny puffs became a steady stream of smoke that thickened and coiled in the air… a serpent's head grew out of the end of it, opening its mouth wide. Cris wondered whether the instrument was confirming her story: she looked eagerly at Dumbledore for a sign that she was right, but Dumbledore did not look up.**

**"Naturally, naturally," murmured Dumbledore apparently to himself, still observing the stream of smoke without the slightest sign of surprise. "But in essence divided?"**

"What does that mean?" Tonks asked.

"I'm sure it'll explain further in the books." Dumbledore said.

**Cris could make neither head nor tail of this question. The smoke serpent, however, split itself instantly into two snakes, both coiling and undulating in the dark air. With a look of grim satisfaction, Dumbledore gave the instrument another gentle tap with his wand: the clinking noise slowed and died and the smoke serpents grew faint, became a formless haze and vanished.**

**Dumbledore replaced the instrument on its spindly little table. Cris saw many of the old headmasters in the portraits follow him with their eyes, then, realizing that Cris was watching them, hastily pretend to be sleeping again. Cris wanted to ask what the strange silver instrument was for, but before she could do so, there was a shout from the top of the wall to their right; the wizard called Everard had reappeared in his portrait, panting slightly.**

"That's good," Alice murmured.

**"Dumbledore!"**

**"What news?" said Dumbledore at once.**

**"I yelled until someone came running," said the wizard, who was mopping his brow on the curtain behind him, "said I'd heard something moving downstairs - they weren't sure whether to believe me but went down to check - you know there are no portraits down there to watch from. Anyway, they carried him up a few minutes later. He doesn't look good; he's covered in blood,**

Mrs. Weasley whimpered and gripped his hand tighter; memories of that night came to haunt her every time she fell asleep.

**I ran along to Elfrida Cragg's portrait to get a good view as they left -"**

**"Good," said Dumbledore as Ron made a convulsive movement. "I take it Dilys will have seen him arrive, then -"**

**And moments later, the silver-ringlet witch had reappeared in her picture, too; she sank, coughing, into her armchair and said, "Yes, they've taken him to St. Mungo's, Dumbledore… they carried him past my portrait… he looks bad…"**

Mr. Weasley held his whimpering wife to him, he knew she was terrified.

"**Thank you," said Dumbledore. He looked round at Professor McGonagall.**

"**Minerva, I need you to go and wake the other Weasley children."**

"**Of course…"**

**Professor McGonagall got up and moved swiftly to the door. Cris cast a sideways glance at Ron, who was looking terrified.**

"**And Dumbledore - what about Molly?" said Professor McGonagall, pausing at the door.**

"**That will be a job for Fawkes when he has finished keeping a lookout for anybody approaching," said Dumbledore. "But she may already know… that excellent clock of hers…"**

"I did, I was up late waiting for him to get home with a cup of hot coco and the clock moved to mortal danger and I was instantly terrified." Mrs. Weasley whispered.

**Cris knew Dumbledore was referring to the clock that told, not the time, but the whereabouts and conditions of the various Weasley family members, and with a pang she thought that Mr. Weasley's hand must, even now, be pointing at mortal peril. But it was very late. Mrs. Weasley was probably asleep, not watching the clock. Cris felt cold as she remembered Mrs. Weasley's Boggart turning into Mr. Weasley's lifeless body, his glasses askew, blood running down his face… but Mr. Weasley wasn't going to die… he couldn't…**

"As much as I love you thinking that Cris, I'm a mere mortal and we do die when our time comes." Mr. Weasley said.

"I know, I just didn't want them to suffer the loose of a parent the same as I have." Cris said. George and Fred kissed her head and Mrs. Weasley smiled at her.

"Thank you dear," she said. Cris nodded and continued reading wanting to get this chapter over with.

**Dumbledore was now rummaging in a cupboard behind Cris and Ron. He emerged from it carrying a blackened old kettle, which he placed carefully on his desk. He raised his wand and murmured, "Portus!" For a moment the kettle trembled, glowing with an odd blue light; then it quivered to rest, as solidly black as ever. **

"You made an illegal portkey?" Amelia asked surprised.

"Time was of the essence." Dumbledore said.

"Even in times of great duress you can make a portkey illegally if needed." Amelia said.

**Dumbledore marched over to another portrait, this time of a clever-looking wizard with a pointed beard, who had been painted wearing the Slytherin colors of green and silver and was apparently sleeping so deeply that he could not hear Dumbledore's voice when he attempted to rouse him.**

**"Phineas. Phineas."**

**The subjects of the portraits lining the room were no longer pretending to be asleep; they were shifting around in their frames, the better to watch what was happening. When the clever-looking wizard continued to feign sleep, some of them shouted his name, too.**

**"Phineas! Phineas! PHINEAS!"**

"Of course he would ignore you," Sirius muttered.

**He could not pretend any longer; he gave a theatrical jerk and opened his eyes wide.**

**"Did someone call?"**

"Shouldn't he have answered if he called?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah, he should have." Remus said.

"That's my great-great-great uncle for you though." Sirius said.

**"I need you to visit your other portrait again, Phineas," said Dumbledore. "I've got another message."**

**"Visit my other portrait?" said Phineas in a reedy voice, giving a long, fake yawn (his eyes traveling around the room and focusing on Cris). "Oh, no, Dumbledore, I am too tired tonight."**

"Yeah right, they don't sleep." Robin said.

"So they spy while they pretend to sleep?" Gwen asked.

"Yep," Remus said.

**Something about Phineas' voice was familiar to Cris, where had she heard it before? But before she could think, the portraits on the surrounding walls broke into a storm of protest.**

**"Insubordination, sir!" roared a corpulent, red-nosed wizard, brandishing his fists. "Dereliction of duty!"**

**"We are honor-bound to give service to the present Headmaster of Hogwarts!" cried a frail looking old wizard whom Cris recognized as Dumbledore's predecessor, Armando Dippet.**

**"Shame on you, Phineas!"**

**"Shall I persuade him, Dumbledore?" called a gimlet-eyed witch, raising an unusually thick wand that looked not unlike a birch rod.**

"Oh, I would love to see that." Sirius said with a laugh.

**"Oh, very well," said the wizard called Phineas, eyeing the wand with mild apprehension, "though he may well have destroyed my picture by now, he's done away with most of the family -"**

**"Sirius knows not to destroy your portrait," said Dumbledore, and Cris realized immediately where she had heard Phineas' voice before: issuing from the apparently empty frame in her bedroom in Grimmauld Place. "You are to give him the message that Arthur Weasley has been gravely injured and that his wife, children and Cristal Potter will be arriving at his house shortly. Do you understand?"**

**"Arthur Weasley, injured, wife and children and Cristal Potter coming to stay," repeated Phineas in a bored voice. "Yes, yes… very well."**

"That'll cheer him up slightly to have some company." Prongs said.

"Other than the obvious of course." Padfoot said grinning at Kit who blushed and looked away.

**He sloped away into the frame of the portrait and disappeared from view at the very moment the study door opened again. Fred, George and Ginny were ushered inside by Professor McGonagall; all three of them looking disheveled and shocked, still in their night things. **

"Everything was happening so fast." Ginny said.

"And we just woke up." Fred said.

**"Cris - what's going on?" asked Ginny, who looked frightened. "Professor McGonagall says you saw Dad get hurt -"**

**"Your father has been injured in the course of his work for the Order of the Phoenix," said Dumbledore, before Cris could speak. "He has been taken to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. I am sending you back to Sirius's house, which is much more convenient for the hospital than The Burrow. You will meet your mother there."**

**"How're we going?" asked Fred, looking shaken. "Floo powder?"**

"No, that can easily be interrupted." Bill said.

"We know," the trio said.

**"No," said Dumbledore, "Floo powder is not safe at the moment, the Network is being watched. You will be taking a Portkey." He indicated the old kettle lying innocently on his desk. "We are just waiting for Phineas Nigellus to report back… I want to be sure that the coast is clear before sending you -"**

**There was a flash of flame in the very middle of the office, leaving behind a single golden feather that floated gently to the floor.**

**"It is Fawkes's warning," said Dumbledore, catching the feather as it fell. "Professor Umbridge must know you're out of your beds… Minerva, go and head her off - tell her any story -"**

"How in the world did she know?" Charlie asked.

"I'm guessing Filch." Padfoot said.

"Ah, but they were with teachers so no harm done." Prongs said. Umbridge was scowling technically they were doing nothing wrong and were within their right to go and get help.

**Professor McGonagall was gone in a swish of tartan.**

**"He says he'll be delighted," said a bored voice behind Dumbledore; the wizard called Phineas had reappeared in front of his Slytherin banner. "My great-great-grandson has always had an odd taste in house-guests."**

"We're not odd." Robin and Remus said.

"Well you're a werewolf and you're his sister so you are odd." Charlie said with a smirk.

"Hey!" Robin and Remus said.

**"Come here, then," Dumbledore said to Cris and the Weasleys. "And quickly, before anyone else joins us."**

**Cris and the others gathered around Dumbledore's desk.**

**"You have all used a Portkey before?" asked Dumbledore, and they nodded, each reaching out to touch some part of the blackened kettle. "Good. On the count of three, then… one… two…"**

**It happened in a fraction of a second: in the infinitesimal pause before Dumbledore said "three", Cris looked up at him - they were very close together - and Dumbledore's clear blue gaze moved from the Portkey to Cris' face.**

**At once, Cris' scar burned white-hot, as though the old wound had burst open again – and unbidden, unwanted, but terrifyingly strong, there rose within Cris a hatred so powerful she felt, for that instant, she would like nothing better than to strike - to bite - to sink her fangs into the man before her —**

"What?" the group asked wide eyed. Sirius got up and walked over to Cris and gathered her into his arms. He walked back to his seat and held her to him.

"Crisy, it's alright, it's not you, it's just a side effect. It's not you." Sirius said.

"What's going on?" Lily asked terrified for her daughter.

"All will be explained Miss Evans." Dumbledore said.

"I hope so," Prongs said.

**"… three."**

**Cris felt a powerful jerk behind her navel, the ground vanished from beneath her feet, her hand was glued to the kettle; she was banging into the others as they all sped forwards in a swirl of colors and a rush of wind, the kettle pulling them onwards… until her feet hit the ground so hard her knees buckled, the kettle clattered to the ground, and somewhere close at hand a voice said:**

**"Back again, the blood-traitor brats. Is it true their father's dying?"**

"Kreacher," growled Padfoot.

"He's as nasty as ever." Prongs said.

**"OUT!" roared a second voice.**

"Okay Sirius, you need to calm down." Robin said.

"I know," Sirius said. Cris was still in his lap she didn't bother moving so she just read from there.

**Cris scrambled to her feet and looked around; they had arrived in the gloomy basement kitchen of number twelve, Grimmauld Place. The only sources of light were the fire and one guttering candle, which illuminated the remains of a solitary supper. Kreacher was disappearing through the door to the hall, looking back at them malevolently as he hitched up his loincloth; Sirius was hurrying towards them all, looking anxious. He was unshaven and still in his day clothes; there was also a slightly Mundungus-like whiff of stale drink about him. **

"Really Sirius?" Lily asked.

"There really isn't much to do when I'm stuck at that house." Sirius said.

**"What's going on?" he said, stretching out a hand to help Ginny up. "Phineas Nigellus said Arthur's been badly injured —"**

**"Ask Cris," said Fred.**

**"Yeah, I want to hear this for myself," said George.**

**The twins and Ginny were staring at her. Kreacher's footsteps had stopped on the stairs outside.**

**"It was -" Cris began; this was even worse than telling McGonagall and Dumbledore. "I had a - a kind of – vision."**

**And she told them all that she had seen, though she altered the story so that it sounded as though she had watched from the sidelines as the snake attacked, rather than from behind the snake's own eyes. Ron, who was still very white, gave him a fleeting look, but did not speak.**

"I figured you didn't want to scare them anymore than what was already happening." Ron said.

"Thanks Red," Cris said with a smile.

**When Cris had finished, Fred, George and Ginny continued to stare at her for a moment. Cris did not know whether she was imagining it or not, but she fancied there was something accusatory in their looks.**

**Well, if they were going to blame her just for seeing the attack, she was glad she had not told them that she had been inside the snake at the time.**

"We weren't accusing you Bambi," Fred said.

"We were just worried about you." George said.

"I was just scared for dad and really wasn't meaning to look at you." Ginny said. Cris nodded and Sirius hugged her tighter as she continued to read.

**"Is Mum here?" said Fred, turning to Sirius.**

**"She probably doesn't even know what's happened yet," said Sirius. "The important thing was to get you away before Umbridge could interfere. I expect Dumbledore's letting Molly know now."**

**"We've got to go to St. Mungo's," said Ginny urgently. She looked around at her brothers; they were of course still in their pajamas. "Sirius, can you lend us cloaks or anything?"**

"Ginny don't you dare," Mrs. Weasley said. "As much as I know you want to it won't be a good time to do it."

"We know, Sirius talked us out of it." Ginny said.

"Who knew," Prongs whispered to Lily who giggled as Cris continued reading.

**"Hang on, you can't go tearing off to St. Mungo's!" said Sirius.**

**"Course we can go to St. Mungo's if we want," said Fred, with a mulish expression. "He's our dad!"**

**"And how are you going to explain how you knew Arthur was attacked before the hospital even let his wife know?"**

"Yeah, that'll be a problem." Padfoot said.

**"What does that matter?" said George hotly.**

**"It matters because we don't want to draw attention to the fact that Cris is having visions of things that are happening hundreds of miles away!" said Sirius angrily. "Have you any idea what the Ministry would make of that information?"**

**Fred and George looked as though they could not care less what the Ministry made of anything. **

"And that's why I love the two of you." Cris said interrupting herself.

"Thanks Bambi," they said with the same grin she loved.

**Ron was still ashen-faced and silent.**

**Ginny said, "Somebody else could have told us… we could have heard it somewhere other than Cris."**

"But who, I can't think of anyone that would know." Robin said.

**"Like who?" said Sirius impatiently. "Listen, your dad's been hurt while on duty for the Order and the circumstances are fishy enough without his children knowing about it seconds after it happened, you could seriously damage the Order's -"**

**"We don't care about the dumb Order!" shouted Fred.**

**"It's our dad dying we're talking about!" yelled George.**

"And that's why you aren't in the Order; you have to make sacrifices for the cause." Remus said. Fred and George looked down; they were just worried about their dad was all.

"It's alright, I understand that you want to help but in order to do so you have to learn to let go." Mr. Weasley said. They nodded and signaled for Cris to continue and she did.

**"Your father knew what he was getting into and he won't thank you for messing things up for the Order!" said Sirius, equally angry. "This is how it is - this is why you're not in the Order – you don't understand - there are things worth dying for!"**

"Not exactly how I would have put it but if it gets through to them then that's good." Mr. Weasley said.

**"Easy for you to say, stuck here!" bellowed Fred. "I don't see you risking your neck!"**

"Sorry Sirius, sometimes when I'm angry or upset I don't know what I'm saying." Fred said sheepishly.

"It's alright, Sirius is just like that." Robin said.

**The little color remaining in Sirius's face drained from it. He looked for a moment as though he would quite like to hit Fred, but when he spoke, it was in a voice of determined calm.**

**"I know it's hard, but we've all got to act as though we don't know anything yet. We've got to stay put, at least until we hear from your mother, all right?"**

**Fred and George still looked mutinous. Ginny, however, took a few steps over to the nearest chair and sank into it. Cris looked at Ron, who made a funny movement somewhere between a nod and a shrug, and they sat down too. The twins glared at Sirius for another minute, then took seats either side of Ginny.**

**"That's right," said Sirius encouragingly, "come on, let's all… let's all have a drink while we're waiting. Accio Butterbeer!"**

"At least he didn't give them Firewhisky." Mrs. Weasley murmured.

"They are adults now Molly," Mr. Weasley whispered.

**He raised his wand as he spoke and half a dozen bottles came flying towards them out of the pantry, skidded along the table, scattering the debris of Sinus's meal, and stopped neatly in front of the six of them. They all drank, and for a while the only sounds were those of the crackling of the kitchen fire and the soft thud of their bottles on the table.**

**Cris was only drinking to have something to do with her hands. **

**Her stomach was full of horrible hot, bubbling guilt. They would not be here if it were not for her; they would all still be asleep in bed. And it was no good telling herself that by raising the alarm she had ensured that Mr. Weasley was found, because there was also the in escapable business of it being she who had attacked Mr. Weasley in the first place. **

"Cristal Rose! Don't think like that, it was not your fault." Lily shouted.

"I know now mum, I just wish I knew why I can see into Voldemort's mind." Cris said.

"I wish I knew as well." Sirius said. He kissed her head and let her continue to read.

**Don't be stupid, you haven't got fangs, she told herself, trying to keep calm, though the hand on her Butterbeer bottle was shaking, you were lying in bed, you weren't attacking anyone…**

**But then, what just happened in Dumbledore's office? she asked herself. I felt like I wanted to attack Dumbledore, too…**

"There has to be an explanation for all this." Percy said.

"I hope so," Cris said.

"Does it have to do with her scar?" Fudge asked.

"It's possible; she is the first and only person who has survived the Killing Curse." Remus said.

"I always forget about that." Fudge murmured to himself.

**She put the bottle down a little harder than she meant to, and it slopped over on to the table. No one took any notice. Then a burst of fire in midair illuminated the dirty plates in front of them and, as they gave cries of shock, a scroll of parchment fell with a thud on to the table, accompanied by a single golden phoenix tail feather.**

**"Fawkes!" said Sirius at once, snatching up the parchment. "That's not Dumbledore's writing – it must be a message from your mother - here -"**

**He thrust the letter into George's hand, who ripped it open and read aloud: "Dad is still alive. I am setting out for St. Mungo's now. Stay where you are. I will send news as soon as I can. Mum."**

**George looked around the table.**

**"Still alive…" he said slowly. "But that makes it sound…"**

"How bad was it?" Alice asked.

"Bad enough, but I'm better now." Mr. Weasley said.

"That's good to know." Frank said.

**He did not need to finish the sentence. It sounded to Cris, too, as though Mr. Weasley was hovering somewhere between life and death. Still exceptionally pale, Ron stared at the back of his mother's letter as though it might speak words of comfort to him. Fred pulled the parchment out of George's hands and read it for himself, then looked up at Cris, who felt her hand shaking on her Butterbeer bottle again and clenched it more tightly to stop the trembling.**

**If Cris had ever sat through a longer night than this one, she could not remember it. Sirius suggested once, without any real conviction, that they all go to bed, but the Weasleys' looks of disgust were answer enough. They mostly sat in silence around the table, watching the candle wick sinking lower and lower into liquid wax, occasionally raising a bottle to their lips, speaking only to check the time, to wonder aloud what was happening, and to reassure each other that if there was bad news, they would know straightaway, for Mrs. Weasley must long since have arrived at St. Mungo's.**

**Fred fell into a doze, his head lolling sideways on to his shoulder. Ginny was curled like a cat on her chair, but her eyes were open; Cris could see them reflecting the firelight. Ron was sitting with his head in his hands, whether awake or asleep it was impossible to tell. **

"I was awake just mulling over everything that had happened." Ron said.

"It was quite frightening." Ginny said.

**Cris and Sirius looked at each other every so often, intruders upon the family grief, waiting… waiting…**

**At ten past five in the morning by Ron's watch, the kitchen door swung open and Mrs. Weasley entered the kitchen. She was extremely pale, but when they all turned to look at her, Fred, Ron and Cris half rising from their chairs, she gave a wan smile.**

**"He's going to be all right," she said, **

"That's good to know," Alice said with a sigh of relief.

**her voice weak with tiredness. "He's sleeping. We can all go and see him later. Bill's sitting with him now; he's going to take the morning off work."**

**Fred fell back into his chair with his hands over his face. George and Ginny got up, walked swiftly over to their mother and hugged her. Ron gave a very shaky laugh and downed the rest of his Butterbeer in one.**

**"Breakfast!" said Sirius loudly and joyfully, jumping to his feet. "Where's that accursed house-elf? Kreacher! KREACHER!"**

**But Kreacher did not answer the summons.**

"But he should have been there when called right?" Gwen asked.

"It is possible he took that last order literally and left the house." Dumbledore said.

"But that means he could tell Cissa and Lucius everything." Sirius said wide-eyed.

"Don't worry, we'll figure this out later." Dumbledore said.

**"Oh, forget it, then," muttered Sirius, counting the people in front of him. "So, it's breakfast for - let's see - seven… bacon and eggs, I think, and some tea, and toast -"**

**Cris hurried over to the stove to help. She did not want to intrude on the Weasleys' happiness**

"Cris, how many times do we have to tell you that you are apart of the family?" Ron asked.

"Enough," Cris said with a weak chuckle.

**and she dreaded the moment when Mrs. Weasley would ask her to recount her vision. However, she had barely taken plates from the dresser when Mrs. Weasley lifted them out of her hands and pulled her into a hug.**

**"I don't know what would have happened if it hadn't been for you, Cris," she said in a muffled voice. "They might not have found Arthur for hours, and then it would have been too late, but thanks to you he's alive and Dumbledore's been able to think up a good cover story for Arthur being where he was, you've no idea what trouble he would have been in otherwise, look at poor Sturgis…"**

"Yeah, that would've been very bad." Bill said.

**Cris could hardly bear her gratitude, but fortunately she soon released her to turn to Sirius and thank him for looking after her children through the night. Sirius said he was very pleased to have been able to help, and hoped they would all stay with him as long as Mr. Weasley was in hospital.**

"Or until break is over, whichever is first." Gwen said.

"Hopefully it's the whole break; it's nice to have fresh company once in a while." Sirius said.

**"Oh, Sirius, I'm so grateful… they think he'll be there a little while and it would be wonderful to be nearer… of course, that might mean we're here for Christmas."**

**"The more the merrier!" said Sirius with such obvious sincerity that Mrs. Weasley beamed at him, threw on an apron and began to help with breakfast.**

**"Sirius," Cris muttered, unable to stand it a moment longer. "Can I have a quick word? Er - now?"**

**She walked into the dark pantry and Sirius followed. Without preamble, Cris told her godfather every detail of the vision she had had, including the fact that she herself had been the snake who had attacked Mr. Weasley. **

"I'm glad you told, I'm there for you to tell these things to." Sirius said.

"Thanks Siri," Cris said hugging him before continuing.

**When she paused for breath, Sirius said, "Did you tell Dumbledore this?"**

**"Yes," said Cris impatiently, "but he didn't tell me what it meant. Well, he doesn't tell me anything anymore."**

**"I'm sure he would have told you if it was anything to worry about," said Sirius steadily.**

**"But that's not all," said Cris, in a voice only a little above a whisper. "Sirius, I… I think I'm going mad. Back in Dumbledore's office, just before we took the Portkey… for a couple of seconds there I thought I was a snake, I felt like one - my scar really hurt when I was looking at Dumbledore -Sirius, I wanted to attack him!"**

**She could only see a sliver of Sirius's face; the rest was in darkness.**

**"It must have been the aftermath of the vision, that's all," said Sirius. "You were still thinking of the dream or whatever it was and –"**

**"It wasn't that," said Cris, shaking her head, "it was like something rose up inside me, like there's a snake inside me." **

"That's not right; you're a cheetah, not a snake." Prongs said.

"So what's going on?" Lily asked.

"I'm sure you will find out." Dumbledore said.

**"You need to sleep," said Sirius firmly. "You're going to have breakfast, then go upstairs to bed, and after lunch you can go and see Arthur with the others. You're in shock, Cris; you're blaming yourself for something you only witnessed, and it's lucky you did witness it or Arthur might have died. Just stop worrying."**

"That you Pads," Prongs said.

"It's my job," Sirius said.

**He hugged Cris and left the pantry, leaving Cris standing alone in the dark.**

**Everyone but Cris spent the rest of the morning sleeping. She went up to the bedroom she and Ron had shared over the last few weeks of summer, but while Ron crawled into bed and was asleep within minutes, Cris sat fully clothed, hunched against the cold metal bars of the bedstead, keeping herself deliberately uncomfortable, determined not to fall into a doze, terrified that she might become the serpent again in her sleep and wake to find that she had attacked Ron, or else slithered through the house after one of the others…**

"I see why you stayed awake." Ginny said with a shiver.

"I can see why you would have thought that though it isn't plausible." Remus said.

"I know," Cris said.

**When Ron woke up, Cris pretended to have enjoyed a refreshing nap too.**

"It didn't work you know, you had dark circles under your eyes." Ron said.

"Well you didn't say anything." Cris said.

**Their trunks arrived from Hogwarts while they were eating lunch, so they could dress as Muggles for the trip to St Mungo's. Everybody except Cris was riotously happy and talkative as they changed out of their robes into jeans and sweatshirts. When Tonks and Mad-Eye turned up to escort them across London, they greeted them gleefully, laughing at the bowler hat Mad-Eye was wearing at an angle to conceal his magical eye and assuring him, truthfully, that Tonks, whose hair was short and bright pink again, would attract far less attention on the Underground.**

**Tonks was very interested in Cris' vision of the attack on Mr. Weasley, something Cris was not remotely interested in discussing.**

**"There isn't any Seer blood in your family, is there?" she enquired curiously, as they sat side by side on a train rattling towards the heart of the city. **

"No, there isn't, thank Merlin." Prongs said.

**"No," said Cris, thinking of Professor Trelawney and feeling insulted.**

**"No," said Tonks musingly, "no, I suppose it's not really prophecy you're doing, is it? I mean, you're not seeing the future, you're seeing the present… it's odd, isn't it? Useful, though…"**

"It does come in handy." Scarlett said.

"What do you mean?" Cris asked.

"Later," Keiran said.

**Cris didn't answer; fortunately, they got out at the next stop, a station in the very heart of London, and in the bustle of leaving the train she was able to allow Fred and George to get between herself and Tonks, who was leading the way. They all followed her up the escalator, Moody clunking along at the back of the group, his bowler tilted low and one gnarled hand stuck in between the buttons of his coat, clutching his wand. Cris thought he sensed the concealed eye staring hard at her.**

"You have good senses." Moody said.

"So you were watching me." Cris said.

"Just making sure no one attacks you." He said.

**Trying to avoid any more questions about her dream, she asked Mad-Eye where St. Mungo's was hidden.**

**"Not far from here," grunted Moody as they stepped out into the wintry air on a broad store-lined street packed with Christmas shoppers. He pushed Cris a little ahead of him and stumped along just behind; Cris knew the eye was rolling in all directions under the tilted hat. "Wasn't easy to find a good location for a hospital. Nowhere in Diagon Alley was big enough and we couldn't have it underground like the Ministry - wouldn't be healthy. In the end they managed to get hold of a building up here. Theory was, sick wizards could come and go and just blend in with the crowd."**

"But some of our diseases aren't easily disguisable." Lily said.

"I'm sure they would put on a glamour before they go." Kit said.

"That's possible," Padfoot said.

**He seized Cris' shoulder to prevent them being separated by a gaggle of shoppers plainly intent on nothing but making it into a nearby shop full of electrical gadgets.**

**"Here we go," said Moody a moment later.**

**They had arrived outside a large, old-fashioned, red-brick department store called Purge & Dowse Ltd. The place had a shabby, miserable air; the window displays consisted of a few chipped dummies with their wigs askew, standing at random and modeling fashions at least ten years out of date. Large signs on all the dusty doors read: "Closed for Refurbishment". Cris distinctly heard a large woman laden with plastic shopping bags say to her friend as they passed, "It's never open, that place…"**

"So non magical people can't get in?" Gwen asked.

"Squibs can," Remus said.

"But other than that no, if they do we obliviate the memory." Robin said.

"Seems simple enough." Gwen said.

**"Right," said Tonks, beckoning them towards a window displaying nothing but a particularly ugly female dummy. Its false eyelashes were hanging off and it was modeling a green nylon pinafore dress. "Everybody ready?"**

**They nodded, clustering around her. Moody gave Cris another shove between the shoulder blades to urge her forward and Tonks leaned close to the glass, looking up at the very ugly dummy, her breath steaming up the glass. "Wotcher… We're here to see Arthur Weasley."**

"You're speaking to the dummy?" Gwen asked.

"It is not what it seems." Tonks said with a smile. Gwen nodded and Cris continued reading.

**Cris thought how absurd it was for Tonks to expect the dummy to hear her talking so quietly through a sheet of glass, with buses rumbling along behind her and all the racket of a street full of shoppers. Then she reminded herself that dummies couldn't hear anyway. Next second, her mouth opened in shock as the dummy gave a tiny nod and beckoned with its jointed finger, and Tonks had seized Ginny and Mrs. Weasley by the elbows, stepped right through the glass and vanished. **

"That is so cool," Gwen said.

**Fred, George and Ron stepped after them. Cris glanced around at the jostling crowd; not one of them seemed to have a glance to spare for window displays as ugly as those of Purge & Dowse Ltd; nor did any of them seem to have noticed that six people had just melted into thin air in front of them.**

"That's because you are within the wards and they can't see you." Robin said.

"Cool," Gwen said again.

**"C'mon," growled Moody, giving Cris yet another poke in the back, and together they stepped forward through what felt like a sheet of cool water, emerging quite warm and dry on the other side.**

**There was no sign of the ugly dummy or the space where she had stood. They were in what seemed to be a crowded reception area where rows of witches and wizards sat upon rickety wooden chairs, some looking perfectly normal and perusing out-of-date copies of Witch Weekly, others sporting gruesome disfigurements such as elephant trunks or extra hands sticking out of their chests. The room was scarcely less quiet than the street outside, for many of the patients were making very peculiar noises: a sweaty-faced witch in the center of the front row, who was fanning herself vigorously with a copy of the Daily Prophet, kept letting off a high-pitched whistle as steam came pouring out of her mouth; a grubby-looking warlock in the corner clanged like a bell every time he moved and, with each clang, his head vibrated horribly so that he had to seize himself by the ears to hold it steady.**

"You guys have very weird ailments." Gwen said.

"You should hear the diseases." Lily said.

**Witches and wizards in lime-green robes were walking up and down the rows, asking questions and making notes on clipboards like Umbridge's. Cris noticed the emblem embroidered on their chests: a wand and bone, crossed.**

**"Are they doctors?" she asked Ron quietly.**

**"Doctors?" said Ron, looking startled. "Those Muggle nutters that cut people up? Nah, they're Healers."**

"So they are like doctors?" Gwen asked.

"Kind of, just without the cutting people open part." Lily said.

"That would be great, couple months ago I had to get my appendix removed because it burst." Gwen said.

"Ouch," Lily, Hermione and Cris said.

"What's an appendix?" Ron asked.

"An organ in the body that does absolutely nothing, it used to do something but overtime it ceased to function." Hermione said.

"Oh, do we have it?" Padfoot asked.

"Possibly," Lily said.

"Can I finish this chapter?" Cris asked.

"Sorry," the group said.

**"Over here!" called Mrs. Weasley above the renewed clanging of the warlock in the corner, and they followed her to the queue in front of a plump blonde witch seated at a desk marked Enquiries. The wall behind her was covered in notices and posters saying things like: **

**A CLEAN CAULDRON KEEPS POTIONS FROM BECOMING POISONS and ANTIDOTES ARE ANTI-DON'TS UNLESS APPROVED BY A QUALIFIED HEALER. **

**There was also a large portrait of a witch with long silver ringlets which was labeled:**

**Dilys Derwent**

**St. Mungo's Healer 1722- Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry 1741- Dilys was eyeing the Weasley party closely as though counting them; when Cris caught her eye she gave a tiny wink, walked sideways out of her portrait and vanished.**

"Well at least she is still keeping an eye out." Alice said.

"Alice, Frank, what's coming up might disturb you some." Hermione said.

"I think it might be the next chapter Mia," Cris said.

"What's coming up?" Frank asked.

"You'll see." Ginny said sadly.

**Meanwhile, at the front of the queue, a young wizard was performing an odd on-the-spot jig and trying, in between yelps of pain, to explain his predicament to the witch behind the desk.**

**"It's these - ouch - shoes my brother gave me - ow- they're eating my - OUCH - feet - look at them, there must be some kind of - AARGH - jinx on them and I can't - AAAAARGH – get them off." He hopped from one foot to the other as though dancing on hot coals.**

**"The shoes don't prevent you reading, do they?" said the blonde witch, irritably pointing at a large sign to the left of her desk. "You want Spell Damage, fourth floor. Just like it says on the floor guide. Next!"**

"Well that's rude," Gwen said.

"She's probably just had to work over night." Robin said.

**As the wizard hobbled and pranced sideways out of the way, the Weasley party moved forward a few steps and Cris read the floor guide:**

**ARTEFACT ACCIDENTS… Ground floor Cauldron explosion, wand backfiring, broom crashes, etc.**

"I end up there a lot." Teddy said.

"So do I." Tonks said. They smiled at each other and Remus shook his head, happy that his son had something in common with his mother.

**CREATURE-INDUCED INJURIES… First floor Bites, stings, burns, embedded spines, etc.**

**MAGICAL BUGS… Second floor Contagious maladies, e.g. dragon pox, vanishing sickness, scrojungulus, etc.**

**POTION AND PLANT POISONING… Third floor Rashes, regurgitation (uncontrollable), etc.**

**SPELL DAMAGE… Fourth floor Unliftable jinxes, hexes, and incorrectly applied charms, etc.**

**VISITORS' TEAROOM AND HOSPITAL SHOP… Fifth floor IF YOU ARE UNSURE WHERE TO GO, INCAPABLE OF NORMAL SPEECH OR UNABLE TO REMEMBER WHY YOU ARE HERE, OUR WELCOME WITCH WILL BE PLEASED TO HELP.**

"I don't think she's pleased at the moment." Gwen said.

"Everyone gets cranky without enough sleep." Ginny said looking at Cris.

**A very old, stooped wizard with a hearing trumpet had shuffled to the front of the queue now.**

**"I'm here to see Broderick Bode!" he wheezed.**

The future kids looked at each other, Cris and the rest put together everything concerning the war for them to look through when they became ready to hear it and Bode's death was one of them.

**"Ward forty-nine, but I'm afraid you're wasting your time," said the witch dismissively. "He's completely addled, you know - still thinks he's a teapot. Next!"**

**A harassed-looking wizard was holding his small daughter tightly by the ankle while she flapped around his head using the immensely large, feathery wings that had sprouted right out through the back of her romper suit.**

**"Fourth floor," said the witch, in a bored voice, without asking, and the man disappeared through the double doors beside the desk, holding his daughter like an oddly shaped balloon. "Next!"**

**Mrs. Weasley moved forward to the desk.**

**"Hello," she said, "my husband, Arthur Weasley, was supposed to be moved to a different ward this morning, could you tell us -?"**

**"Arthur Weasley?" said the witch, running her finger down a long list in front of her. "Yes, first floor, second door on the right, Dai Llewellyn Ward."**

"That's the ward I was in when I first got bitten." Moony said. Padfoot and Lily each placed a hand on his shoulder as he shivered.

"It wasn't your fault you were bitten." Lily whispered.

"I know," Moony said.

**"Thank you," said Mrs. Weasley. "Come on, you lot."**

**They followed her through the double doors and along the narrow corridor beyond, which was lined with more portraits of famous Healers and lit by crystal bubbles full of candles that floated up on the ceiling, looking like giant soapsuds. More witches and wizards in lime-green robes walked in and out of the doors they passed; a foul-smelling yellow gas wafted into the passageway as they passed one door, and every now and then they heard distant wailing. They climbed a flight of stairs and entered the Creature-Induced Injuries corridor, where the second door on the right bore the words: Dangerous' Dai Llewellyn Ward: Serious Bites. Underneath this was a card in a brass holder on which had been handwritten: Healer-in-Charge: Hippocrates Smethwyck. Trainee Healer: Augustus Pye.**

**"We'll wait outside, Molly," Tonks said. "Arthur won't want too many visitors at once… it ought to be just the family first."**

**Mad-Eye growled his approval of this idea and set himself with his back against the corridor wall, his magical eye spinning in all directions. Cris drew back, too, but Mrs. Weasley reached out a hand and pushed her through the door, saying, "Don't be silly, Cris, Arthur wants to thank you."**

"I'm just not used to it, and am still getting used to it." Cris said.

"We understand Cris, now that we know how you grew up we understand why." Mrs. Weasley said.

**The ward was small and rather dingy, as the only window was narrow and set high in the wall facing the door. Most of the light came from more shining crystal bubbles clustered in the middle of the ceiling. The walls were of paneled oak and there was a portrait of a rather vicious-looking wizard on the wall, captioned: Urquhart Rackharrow, 1612—1697, Inventor of the Entrail-expelling Curse.**

"How is that useful?" Gwen asked.

"I honestly don't know, there are a lot of weird curses out there." Remus said.

**There were only three patients. Mr. Weasley was occupying the bed at the far end of the ward beside the tiny window. Cris was pleased and relieved to see that he was propped up on several pillows and reading the Daily Prophet by the solitary ray of sunlight falling on to his bed. He looked up as they walked towards him and, seeing who it was, beamed.**

"Well, you're at least your normal self." Robin said.

**"Hello!" he called, throwing the Prophet aside. "Bill just left, Molly, had to get back to work, but he says he'll drop in on you later."**

**"How are you, Arthur?" asked Mrs. Weasley, bending down to kiss his cheek and looking anxiously into his face. "You're still looking a bit peaky."**

**"I feel absolutely fine," said Mr. Weasley brightly, holding out his good arm to give Ginny a hug.**

**"If they could only take the bandages off, I'd be fit to go home."**

**"Why can't they take them off, Dad?" asked Fred.**

**"Well, I start bleeding like mad every time they try," said Mr. Weasley cheerfully,**

"Cheerfully?" Gwen asked.

"That's how he is." Bill said.

"Why did you bleed every time they remove them?" Lily asked.

"It was the venom in the bite." Mr. Weasley said.

**reaching across for his wand, which lay on his bedside cabinet, and waving it so that six extra chairs appeared at his bedside to seat them all. "It seems there was some rather unusual kind of poison in that snake's fangs that keeps wounds open. They're sure they'll find an antidote, though; they say they've had much worse cases than mine, and in the meantime I just have to keep taking a Blood-Replenishing Potion every hour. But that fellow over there," he said, dropping his voice and nodding towards the bed opposite in which a man lay looking green and sickly and staring at the ceiling. "Bitten by a werewolf, poor chap. No cure at all."**

Moony paled and looked down.

"It's harder to get a handle on it the older you are." Remus said.

"So in some ways you're lucky that you were bitten when you were younger." Gwen said.

"In some ways." Remus said.

**"A werewolf?" whispered Mrs. Weasley, looking alarmed. "Is he safe in a public ward? Shouldn't he be in a private room?"**

"Sorry Remus," Mrs. Weasley said.

"It's alright, you fear the unknown, I am known to you and no I would never intentionally hurt your family." Remus said.

**"It's two weeks till full moon," Mr. Weasley reminded her quietly. "They've been talking to him this morning, the Healers, you know, trying to persuade him he'll be able to lead an almost normal life. I said to him - didn't mention names, of course - but I said I knew a werewolf personally, very nice man, who finds the condition quite easy to manage."**

"Well not easy but well enough." Remus said with a chuckle.

**"What did he say?" asked George.**

**"Said he'd give me another bite if I didn't shut up," said Mr. Weasley sadly. "And that woman over there," he indicated the only other occupied bed, which was right beside the door, "won't tell the Healers what bit her, which makes us all think it must have been something she was handling illegally. Whatever it was took a real chunk out of her leg, very nasty smell when they take off the dressings."**

**"So, you going to tell us what happened, Dad?" asked Fred, pulling his chair closer to the bed.**

**"Well, you already know, don't you?" said Mr. Weasley, with a significant smile at Cris. "It's very simple - I'd had a very long day, dozed off, got sneaked up on and bitten."**

**"Is it in the Prophet, you being attacked?" asked Fred, indicating the newspaper Mr. Weasley had cast aside.**

"I don't think it would be, it would be pretty suspicious." Prongs said.

"It wasn't," Robin said.

**"No, of course not," said Mr. Weasley, with a slightly bitter smile, "the Ministry wouldn't want everyone to know a dirty great serpent got —"**

"Dad/Arthur!" warned the Order members.

"I know," Mr. Weasley said sheepishly.

**"Arthur!" Mrs. Weasley warned him.**

**"- got - er - me," Mr. Weasley said hastily, though Cris was quite sure that was not what he had meant to say.**

**"So where were you when it happened, Dad?" asked George.**

**"That's my business," said Mr. Weasley, though with a small smile. He snatched up the Daily Prophet, shook it open again and said, "I was just reading about Willy Widdershins's arrest when you arrived. You know Willy turned out to be behind those regurgitating toilets back in the summer? One of his jinxes backfired, the toilet exploded and they found him lying unconscious in the wreckage covered from head to foot in -" **

"Eww," the girls said.

**"When you say you were 'on duty'," Fred interrupted in a low voice, "what were you doing?"**

"You really don't give up do you?" Tonks asked with a smile.

"We can be just as bad as Cris." George said.

"I feel so sorry for your kids." Kingsley said.

"You should feel sorry for their teachers." Teddy said. That earned a slap from Lily J who was in his lap.

"I thought you loved me." Lily J said.

"I do," Teddy said giving her a light kiss so Cris continued to read with a smile on her face.

**"You heard your father," whispered Mrs. Weasley, "we are not discussing this here! Go on about Willy Widdershins, Arthur."**

**"Well, don't ask me how, but he actually got off the toilet charge," said Mr. Weasley grimly. "I can only suppose gold changed hands -"**

**"You were guarding it, weren't you?" said George quietly. "The weapon? The thing You-Know-Who's after?"**

**"George, be quiet!" snapped Mrs. Weasley.**

"You shouldn't talk about things like that in public." Kingsley said.

**"Anyway," said Mr. Weasley, in a raised voice, "this time Willy's been caught selling biting doorknobs to Muggles and I don't think he'll be able to worm his way out of it because, according to this article, two Muggles have lost fingers and are now in St. Mungo's for emergency bone re-growth and memory modification. Just think of it, Muggles in St. Mungo's! I wonder which ward they're in?"**

"Dad/Arthur," groaned the Order members. The younger kids chuckled but didn't say anything more.

**And he looked eagerly around as though hoping to see a signpost.**

**"Didn't you say You-Know-Who's got a snake, Cris?" asked Fred, looking at his father for a reaction. "A massive one? You saw it the night he returned, didn't you?" **

"You should really learn to let things go." Tonks said.

"You saw them last year, they don't." Charlie said.

"They get a lot better. Probably had to do with becoming parents." Keiran said.

"That would do it." Robin said.

**"That's enough," said Mrs. Weasley crossly. "Mad-Eye and Tonks are outside, Arthur, they want to come and see you. And you lot can wait outside," she added to her children and Cris. "You can come and say goodbye afterwards. Go on."**

**They trooped back into the corridor. Mad-Eye and Tonks went in and closed the door of the ward behind them. Fred raised his eyebrows.**

**"Fine," he said coolly, rummaging in his pockets, **

"Please tell me you don't have what I think you have." Mrs. Weasley said.

"I think he does," Padfoot said.

"You two are just as nosy as Cris." Ginny said rolling her eyes.

"Thank you dear sister." They said.

**"be like that. Don't tell us anything."**

**"Looking for these?" said George, holding out what looked like a tangle of flesh-colored string.**

**"You read my mind," said Fred, grinning. "Let's see if St. Mungo's puts Imperturbable Charms on its ward doors, shall we?" **

"They probably should." Mrs. Weasley said.

"I hope they didn't hear anything too important." Tonks muttered.

**He and George disentangled the string and separated five Extendable Ears from each other. Fred and George handed them around. Cris hesitated to take one.**

**"Go on, Cris, take it! You saved Dad's life. If anyone's got the right to eavesdrop on him, it's you." **

"I love your logic." Padfoot said with a grin.

"They shouldn't be eavesdropping anyway." Lily said.

**Grinning in spite of herself, Cris took the end of the string and inserted it into her ear as the twins had done.**

**"Okay, go!" Fred whispered.**

**The flesh-colored strings wriggled like long skinny worms and snaked under the door. At first, Cris could hear nothing, then she jumped as she heard Tonks whispering as clearly as though she were standing right beside her.**

**"… they searched the whole area but couldn't find the snake anywhere. It just seems to have vanished after it attacked you, Arthur… but You-Know-Who can't have expected a snake to get in, can he?"**

**"I reckon he sent it as a lookout," growled Moody, "cause he's not had any luck so far, has he? No, I reckon he's trying to get a clearer picture of what he's facing and if Arthur hadn't been there the beast would've had a lot more time to look around. So, Potter says she saw it all happen?"**

**"Yes," said Mrs. Weasley. She sounded rather uneasy. "You know, Dumbledore seems almost to have been waiting for Cris to see something like this."**

"What do you mean?" Lily asked glaring at the headmaster.

"I'm sure it'll say sooner or later." Dumbledore said.

**"Yeah, well," said Moody, "there's something funny about the Potter kid, we all know that."**

**"Dumbledore seemed worried about Cris when I spoke to him this morning," whispered Mrs. Weasley.**

**"Course he's worried," growled Moody. "The girl's seeing things from inside You-Know-Who's snake. Obviously, Potter doesn't realize what that means, but if You-Know-Who's possessing her —"**

"What?" screamed the marauders and Gwen.

"It shouldn't be possible, right?" Lily asked fearfully.

"It can't happen that way, can it?" Moony asked.

"No, it can't." Robin said.

**Cris pulled the Extendable Ear out of her own, her heart hammering very fast and heat rushing up her face. She looked around at the others. They were all staring at her, the strings still trailing from their ears, looking suddenly fearful.**

"That's the chapter." Cris said. He tossed it to George as she didn't want to move from Sirius' lap. Sirius wrapped his arms tighter around her knowing that she was scared of that ever happening.

"It won't happen pup, I won't let it." Sirius said.

"But what if it does, I don't want to hurt anyone and let anyone get hurt." Cris mumbled.

"This is why you need to learn Occulmency from Snape, to keep this from happening." Sirius said. Cris nodded and George started the next chapter.


	25. Chapter 23: Christmas on the Closed Ward

"**Chapter 23: Christmas on the Closed Ward," **George read.

Neville looked down; this is where his friends found out about his parents.

**Was this why Dumbledore would no longer meet Cris' eyes? Did he expect to see Voldemort staring out of them, afraid, perhaps, that their vivid green might turn suddenly to scarlet, with catlike slits for pupils? Cris remembered how the snakelike face of Voldemort had once forced itself out of the back of Professor Quirrell's head and ran her hand over the back of her own, wondering what it would feel like if Voldemort burst out of her skull.**

"Don't think like that pup." Sirius whispered into her hair. He didn't want her to think like that, he didn't want to think like that.

**She felt dirty, contaminated, as though she were carrying some deadly germ, unworthy to sit on the Underground train back from the hospital with innocent, clean people whose minds and bodies were free of the taint of Voldemort… she had not merely seen the snake, she had been the snake, she knew it now…**

"But you remember everything," Ginny said.

"I do, but it doesn't make me feel any better." Cris said quietly.

**A truly terrible thought then occurred to her, a memory bobbing to the surface of her mind, one that made her insides writhe and squirm like serpents.**

**What's he after, apart from followers?**

"We should tell her Albus, she has the right to know." McGonagall whispered to him.

"I will when the time is right, Minerva." Albus whispered back.

"She is ready, question is, are you?" she whispered.

**Stuff he can only get by stealth… like a weapon. Something he didn't have last time. I'm the weapon, Cris thought, and it was as though poison were pumping through her veins, chilling her, bringing her out in a sweat as she swayed with the train through the dark tunnel. **

"Listen to me Cris, you are not the weapon, alright, I won't let anything bad happen to you as long as I am alive." Sirius whispered.

"I know, I'm just terrified of what could happen." Cris whispered getting closer to her godfather.

"I am too, I am too." Sirius whispered as George continued reading.

**I'm the one Voldemort's trying to use, that's why they've got guards around me everywhere I go, it's not for my protection, it's for other people's, only it's not working, they can't have someone on me all the time at Hogwarts… I did attack Mr. Weasley last night, it was me. Voldemort made me do it and he could be inside me, listening to my thoughts right now –**

"Cris, he is not in you, you are not being possessed, you are just seeing into his mind, and it feels real to you. And the guard is for your protection, you got kidnapped once, he won't be trying it again." Remus said.

"I hope so," Cris said.

**"****Are you all right, Cris, dear?" whispered Mrs. Weasley leaning across Ginny to speak to her as the train rattled along through its dark tunnel. "You don't look very well. Are you feeling sick?"**

"I don't blame you for feeling sick, I would too if I were in your shoes." Tonks said.

**They were all watching her. She shook her head violently and stared up at an advertisement for home insurance.**

**"****Cris, dear, are you sure you're all right?" said Mrs. Weasley in a worried voice, as they walked around the unkempt patch of grass in the middle of Grimmauld Place. "You look ever so pale… are you sure you slept this morning? You go upstairs to bed right now and you can have a couple of hours of sleep before dinner, all right?"**

**She nodded; here was a ready-made excuse not to talk to any of the others, which was precisely what she wanted, so when she opened the front door she hurried straight past the troll's-leg umbrella stand, up the stairs and into her and Ron's bedroom.**

"How in the world do you do that without tripping?" Tonks asked.

"Very easily." Cris said.

**Cris transformed into her cheetah and hid under the bed to think, her brain teeming and seething with questions and ever more dreadful ideas. **

**How had she become the snake? Perhaps she had another animagus form…no she would know…perhaps Voldemort was an animagus…yes, thought Cris, that would fit, he would turn into a snake of course…**

"Those are logical guesses." Percy said.

**and when he's possessing me, then we both transform… that still doesn't explain how I got to London and back to my bed in the space of about five minutes… but then Voldemort's about the most powerful wizard in the world, apart from Dumbledore, it's probably no problem at all to him to transport people like that.**

"You should know that it can't happen." Lily said.

"I do know, my brain was on the fritz, I forgot about it." Cris said.

**And then, with a terrible stab of panic, she thought, but this is insane - if Voldemort's possessing me, I'm giving him a clear view into the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix right now!**

"We wouldn't let you leave even if you wanted to." Sirius said.

"I know, I doubted you guys would let me anyway." Cris said.

"No we wouldn't, we would tie you to the bed if we had to." George said.

"Totally, and then try to make you think happy thoughts." Fred said. Cris smiled and laughed and George continued reading satisfied they got her to laugh.

**He'll know who's in the Order and where Sirius is… and I've heard loads of stuff I shouldn't have, everything Sirius told me the first night I was here…**

**There was only one thing for it: she would have to leave Grimmauld Place straightaway. **

"Don't do that," Lily said.

"I didn't," Cris said.

**She would spend Christmas at Hogwarts without the others, which would keep them safe over the holidays at least… but no, that wouldn't do, there were still plenty of people at Hogwarts to maim and injure. What if it was Seamus, Dean or Neville next time? She looked out from under the bed to the empty frame of Phineas Nigellus. A leaden sensation was settling in the pit of her stomach. She had no alternative: she was going to have to return to Privet Drive, cut herself off from other wizards entirely. **

"Don't you dare think of doing that." Lily scolded.

"I didn't," Cris said.

**Well, if she had to do it, she thought, there was no point hanging around. Trying with all her might not to think how the Dursley's were going to react when they found her on their doorstep six months earlier than they had expected, she strode over to her trunk, slammed the lid shut and locked it, then glanced around automatically for Hedwig before remembering that she was still at Hogwarts - well, her cage would be one less thing to carry - she seized one end of her trunk and had dragged it halfway towards the door when a snide voice said, "Running away, are we?"**

"Phineas, at least he's good for something." Sirius muttered. "Don't you dare think about running away again."

"I won't," Cris said.

"Good," Sirius said kissing the top of her head.

**She looked around. Phineas Nigellus had appeared on the canvas of his portrait and was leaning against the frame, watching Cris with an amused expression on his face.**

**"Not running away, no," said Cris shortly, dragging her trunk a few more feet across the room.**

"Then what do you call that?" Ron asked.

"Protecting those I love," Cris said.

"Of course," Hermione said.

**"I thought," said Phineas Nigellus, stroking his pointed beard, "that to belong in Gryffindor house you were supposed to be brave! It looks to me as though you would have been better off in my own house. We Slytherins are brave, yes, but not stupid. For instance, given the choice, we will always choose to save our own necks."**

"Ah, but she isn't saving her own neck, she is protecting everyone else." Charlie said with an eye roll.

**"It's not my own neck I'm saving," said Cris tersely, tugging the trunk over a patch of particularly uneven, moth-eaten carpet right in front of the door.**

**"Oh, I see," said Phineas Nigellus, still stroking his beard, "this is no cowardly flight - you are being noble."**

"You're always doing something noble." Neville said.

"She gets it from James." Lily said glaring at Prongs.

**Cris ignored him. Her hand was on the doorknob when Phineas Nigellus said lazily, "I have a message for you from Albus Dumbledore."**

**Cris span round.**

**"What is it?"**

**"'Stay where you are.'"**

**"I haven't moved!" said Cris, her hand still upon the doorknob. "So what's the message?"**

"I think that is the message." Padfoot said.

**"I have just given it to you, dolt," said Phineas Nigellus smoothly. "Dumbledore says, 'Stay where you are.'"**

**"Why?" said Cris eagerly, dropping the end of her trunk. "Why does he want me to stay? What else did he say?"**

**"Nothing whatsoever," said Phineas Nigellus, raising a thin black eyebrow as though he found Cris impertinent.**

**Cris' temper rose to the surface like a snake rearing from long grass. She was exhausted, she was confused beyond measure, she had experienced terror, relief, then terror again in the last twelve hours, and still Dumbledore did not want to talk to her!**

"There better be a good reason for all this." Sirius said snarling clutching his goddaughter to him.

**"So that's it, is it?" she said loudly. "'Stay where you are'! That's all anyone could tell me after I got attacked by those Dementors, too! Just stay put while the grown-ups sort it out, Cris! We won't bother telling you anything, though, because your tiny little brain might not be able to cope with it!"**

"Yeah, I can see how you felt like that, I would have too if I were in your position." Prongs said.

**"You know," said Phineas Nigellus, even more loudly than Cris "this is precisely why I loathed being a teacher! Young people are so infernally convinced that they are absolutely right about everything. Has it not occurred to you, my poor puffed-up popinjay, that there might be an excellent reason why the Headmaster of Hogwarts is not confiding every tiny detail of his plans to you? Have you never paused, while feeling hard-done-by, to note that following Dumbledore's orders has never yet led you into harm? No. No, like all young people, you are quite sure that you alone feel and think, you alone recognize danger, you alone are the only one clever enough to realize what the Dark Lord may be planning -" **

"I don't want to know, I don't want anything to do with that maniac." Cris said.

"I know," Sirius said.

"Though it would be nice to be clued in on some things." Cris said.

"You should know, we'll talk about this later, okay?" Remus asked. Cris nodded, it was better than a no.

**"He is planning something to do with me, then?" said Cris swiftly.**

**"Did I say that?" said Phineas Nigellus, idly examining his silk gloves. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have better things to do than listen to adolescent agonizing… good-day to you."**

**And he strolled to the edge of his frame and out of sight.**

**"Fine, go then!" Cris bellowed at the empty frame. "And tell Dumbledore thanks for nothing!"**

"Did he really tell you?" Cris asked blushing.

"No he did not," Dumbledore said.

"Good," Cris said with a sigh of relief.

**The empty canvas remained silent. Fuming, Cris dragged her trunk back to the foot of her bed, then threw herself face down on the moth-eaten covers, her eyes shut, her body heavy and aching.**

**She felt as though she had journeyed for miles and miles… it seemed impossible that less than twenty-four hours ago Fred and George had been approaching her under the mistletoe… she was so tired… she was scared to sleep… yet she did not know how long she could fight it… Dumbledore had told her to stay… that must mean she was allowed to sleep… but she was scared… what if it happened again?**

**She was sinking into shadows…**

**It was as though a film in her head had been waiting to start.**

"Do you ever have normal dreams?" Lily asked.

"Sometimes, but not too often." Cris said with a shrug.

**She was walking down a deserted corridor towards a plain black door, past rough stone walls, torches, and an open doorway on to a flight of stone steps leading downstairs on the left…**

**She reached the black door but could not open it… she stood gazing at it, desperate for entry… something she wanted with all her heart lay beyond… a prize beyond her dreams… if only her scar would stop prickling… then she would be able to think more clearly…**

**"Cris," said Ron's voice, from far, far away, "Mum says dinner's ready, but she'll save you something if you want to stay in bed."**

**Cris opened her eyes, but Ron had already left the room. **

**He doesn't want to be on his own with me, Cris thought. Not after what he heard Moody say.**

"That's not true mate, I wasn't sure how deep asleep you were. You looked pretty comfortable to me." Ron said.

"I don't know, I was exhausted though." Cris said.

"I could tell." Sirius said.

**She supposed none of them would want her there anymore, now that they knew what was inside her.**

**She would not go down to dinner; she would not inflict her company on them. She turned over on to her other side and, after a while, dropped back off to sleep. She woke much later, in the early hours of the morning, her insides aching with hunger and Ron snoring in the next bed. **

**Squinting around the room, she saw the dark outline of Phineas Nigellus standing again in his portrait and it occurred to Cris that Dumbledore had probably sent Phineas Nigellus to watch over her, in case she attacked somebody else.**

"It is not you." Cried the room.

"I know that now," Cris said with a blush.

**The feeling of being unclean intensified. She half-wished she had not obeyed Dumbledore… if this was how life was going to be for her in Grimmauld Place from now on, maybe she would be better off in Privet Drive after all.**

**Everybody else spent the following morning putting up Christmas decorations. Cris could not remember Sirius ever being in such a good mood; he was actually singing carols, **

"Plug your ears." Prongs said.

"Oi, I'm not that bad of a singer. And plus Robin told me the news earlier that day. I wanted to tell you but you were being sneaky." Sirius said.

"Sorry," Cris said.

**apparently delighted that he was to have company over Christmas. Cris could hear his voice echoing up through the floor in the cold drawing room where she was sitting alone, watching the sky growing whiter outside the windows, threatening snow, all the time feeling a savage pleasure that she was giving the others the opportunity to keep talking about her, as they were bound to be doing. **

"We were just worried about you." Ginny said.

"Yeah, after Mungo's you just disappeared on us and we were worried." Fred said.

"Sorry," Cris said.

"Stop apologizing." George said.

**When she heard Mrs. Weasley calling her name softly up the stairs around lunchtime, she retreated further upstairs and ignored her.**

**Around six o'clock in the evening the doorbell rang and Mrs. Black started screaming again.**

**Assuming that Mundungus or some other Order member had come to call, Cris merely settled herself more comfortably against the wall of Buckbeak's room where she was hiding, trying to ignore how hungry she felt as she fed dead rats to the Hippogriff. It came as a slight shock when somebody hammered hard on the door a few minutes later.**

**"I know you're in there," said Hermione's voice. "Will you please come out? I want to talk to you." **

"What are you doing there, I thought you were skiing." Lily asked.

"It'll explain." Hermione said.

"Well, if it'll stop Cris from brooding that's good." Prongs said.

**"What are you doing here?" Cris asked her, pulling open the door as Buckbeak resumed his scratching at the straw-strewn floor for any fragments of rat he may have dropped. "I thought you were skiing with your mum and dad?"**

**"Well, to tell the truth, skiing's not really my thing," said Hermione. "So, I've come here for Christmas." There was snow in her hair and her face was pink with cold. "But don't tell Ron. I told him it's really good because he kept laughing so much. **

"You lied to me?" Ron asked with a mock hurt expression.

"You try it sometime." Hermione said.

"I prefer snowboarding." Gwen said.

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me." Cris said.

"Snowboarding?" Ron asked.

"It's the same as skiing only on one board." Hermione said.

"That doesn't sound any better." Ron said.

**Mum and Dad are a bit disappointed, but I've told them that everyone who is serious about the exams is staying at Hogwarts to study. **

"And you lied to your parents." Ginny said.

"It was actually good I came back." Hermione said.

"Yeah, she got Cris to talk." George said.

"We wanted to but we didn't know how." Fred said.

**They want me to do well, they'll understand. Anyway," she said briskly, "let's go to your bedroom, Ron's mum has lit a fire in there and she's sent up sandwiches."**

**Cris followed her back to the second floor. When she entered the bedroom, she was rather surprised to see both Ron and Ginny waiting for them, sitting on Ron's bed.**

**"I came on the Knight Bus," said Hermione airily, pulling off her jacket before Cris had time to speak. "Dumbledore told me what had happened first thing this morning, but I had to wait for term to end officially before setting off. Umbridge is already livid that you lot disappeared right under her nose, even though Dumbledore told her Mr. Weasley was in St. Mungo's and he'd given you all permission to visit. So…"**

**She sat down next to Ginny, and the two girls and Ron all looked up at Cris.**

**"How're you feeling?" asked Hermione.**

**"Fine," said Cris stiffly.**

"Cris, if you're anything like me, your emotions show in your eyes." Lily said.

"They do," Hermione said.

"It was worth a try." Cris said shrugging her shoulders.

**"Oh, don't lie, Cris," she said impatiently. "Ron and Ginny say you've been hiding from everyone since you got back from St. Mungo's."**

**"They do, do they?" said Cris, glaring at Ron and Ginny. Ron looked down at his feet but Ginny seemed quite unabashed.**

**"Well, you have!" she said. "And you won't look at any of us!"**

**"It's you lot who won't look at me!" said Cris angrily.**

**"Maybe you're taking it in turns to look, and keep missing each other," suggested Hermione, the corners of her mouth twitching.**

"Wow, Hermione's joking, who would have thought." George said.

**"Very funny," snapped Cris, turning away.**

**"Oh, stop feeling all misunderstood," said Hermione sharply. "Look, the others have told me what you overheard last night on the Extendable Ears -"**

**"Yeah?" growled Cris, her hands deep in her pockets as she watched the snow now falling thickly outside. "All been talking about me, have you? Well, I'm getting used to it."**

**"We wanted to talk to you, Cris," said Ginny, "but as you've been hiding ever since we got back -"**

**"I didn't want anyone to talk to me," said Cris, who was feeling more and more nettled.**

**"Well, that was a bit stupid of you," said Ginny angrily, "seeing as you don't know anyone but me who's been possessed by You-Know-Who, and I can tell you how it feels."**

"Sorry Gin, I kind of forgot about that." Cris said.

"I try to as well." Ginny said.

**Cris remained quite still as the impact of these words hit her. Then she wheeled round.**

**"I forgot," she said.**

**"Lucky you," said Ginny coolly.**

**"I'm sorry" Cris said, and she meant it. "So… so, do you think I'm being possessed, then?"**

**"Well, can you remember everything you've been doing?" Ginny asked. "Are there big blank periods where you don't know what you've been up to?"**

"Thank you Ginny," Lily said.

"You're welcome; I was worried about her too." Ginny said.

**Cris racked her brains.**

**"No," she said.**

**"Then You-Know-Who hasn't ever possessed you," said Ginny simply. "When he did it to me, I couldn't remember what I'd been doing for hours at a time. I'd find myself somewhere and not know how I got there."**

**Cris hardly dared believe her, yet her heart was lightening almost in spite of herself.**

**"That dream I had about your dad and the snake, though —"**

**"Cris you've had these dreams before," Hermione said. "You had flashes of what Voldemort was up to last year."**

**"This was different," said Cris, shaking his head. "I was inside that snake. It was like I was the snake… what if Voldemort somehow transported me to London —?" **

"You really should remember that you can't do that inside Hogwarts." Hermione said.

"I know," Cris said.

**"One day," said Hermione, sounding thoroughly exasperated, "you'll read **_**Hogwarts: A History **_**again****, and perhaps it will remind you that you can't Apparate or Disapparate inside Hogwarts. Even Voldemort couldn't just make you fly out of your dormitory, Cris."**

"Do you remember now?" Padfoot asked cheekily.

"Yes, Padfoot, I do." Cris said with a small smile.

**"You didn't leave your bed, mate," said Ron. "I saw you thrashing around in your sleep for at least a minute before we could wake you up."**

"And now you know for sure." Tonks said.

**Cris started pacing up and down the room again, thinking. What they were all saying was not only comforting, it made sense… without really thinking; she took a sandwich from the plate on the bed and crammed it hungrily into her mouth.**

**"I'm not the weapon after all," thought Cris. Her heart swelled with happiness and relief, and she felt like joining in as they heard Sirius tramping past their door towards Buckbeak's room, singing "God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs" at the top of his voice.**

"I was going to see if you were there." Sirius said.

"You seem to keep missing me." Cris said with a cheeky smile.

"Yep, apparently." Sirius said.

**How could she have dreamed of returning to Privet Drive for Christmas? Sirius's delight at having the house full again, and especially at having Cris back, was infectious. He was no longer their sullen host of the summer; now he seemed determined that everyone should enjoy themselves as much, if not more than they would have done at Hogwarts, and he worked tirelessly in the run-up to Christmas Day, cleaning and decorating with their help, so that by the time they all went to bed on Christmas Eve the house was barely recognizable. The tarnished chandeliers were no longer hung with cobwebs but with garlands of holly and gold and silver streamers; magical snow glittered in heaps over the threadbare carpets; a great Christmas tree, obtained by Mundungus and decorated with live fairies, blocked Sirius's family tree from view, and even the stuffed elf-heads on the hall wall wore Father Christmas hats and beards.**

"That's the only way they would look even half-way decent." Sirius said.

"I don't think I can imagine it like that." Padfoot said.

"It was nice," Cris said.

**Cris awoke on Christmas morning to find a stack of presents at the foot of her bed and Ron already halfway through opening his own, rather larger, pile.**

**"Good haul this year," he informed Cris through a cloud of paper. "Thanks for the Broom Compass, it's excellent; beats Hermione's - she got me a homework planner–"**

"Sorry," Ron said blushing.

"I think it's sweet." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Useful too," Lily added.

**Cris sorted through her presents and found one with Hermione's handwriting on it. She had given him, too, a book that resembled a diary except that it said things like "Do it today or later you'll pay!" every time she opened a page.**

"Cris is usually good about it though." Lily said.

"She is, but it doesn't hurt to have it." Hermione said.

**Sirius and Remus had given Cris a set of excellent books entitled Practical Defensive Magic and its Use Against the Dark Arts, which had superb, moving color illustrations of all the counter jinxes and hexes it described.**

"Those sound cool." Bill said.

"Sorry, you can't have them." Cris said. Bill pouted and George continued to read with a smile on his face.

**Cris flicked through the first volume eagerly; she could see it was going to be highly useful in her plans for the D.A.. Hagrid had sent a furry brown wallet that had fangs, which were presumably supposed to be an anti-theft device, but unfortunately prevented Cris putting any money in without getting her fingers ripped off.**

"Maybe you have to stroke it like the book." Charlie said.

"I'll have to try it sometime." Cris said.

**Tonks' present was a small, working model of a Firebolt, which Cris watched fly around the room, wishing she still had her full-size version; Ron had given her an enormous box of Every-Flavor Beans, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley the usual hand-knitted jumper and some mince pies, and Dobby a truly dreadful painting that Cris suspected had been done by the elf himself. She had just turned it upside down to see whether it looked better that way when, with a loud crack, Fred and George Apparated at the foot of her bed.**

**"Happy Christmas," said George. "Don't go downstairs for a bit."**

**"Why not?" said Ron.**

**"Mum's crying again," said Fred heavily. "Percy sent back his Christmas jumper." **

"What the bloody hell?" Charlie asked shocked.

"I'm so sorry, now that I know the truth, I am dreadfully sorry." Percy said. Mrs. Weasley stood up and walked over to her son and brought him in for a hug.

"It's alright dear, everyone makes mistakes." She said.

**"Without a note," added George. "Hasn't asked how Dad is or visited him or anything."**

"I did visit; it was just while he was unconscious." Percy said.

"You didn't have to hide from us." Mr. Weasley said.

"I think I did, everyone else wouldn't have wanted me there." Percy said. George took this opportunity to continue.

**"We tried to comfort her," said Fred, moving around the bed to look at Cris' portrait. "Told her Percy's nothing more than a humungous pile of rat droppings."**

"Fred, that won't work." Bill said. Fred shrugged his shoulders.

**"Didn't work," said George, helping himself to a Chocolate Frog. "So Lupin took over. Best let him cheer her up before we go down for breakfast, I reckon."**

**"What's that supposed to be, anyway?" asked Fred, squinting at Dobby's painting. "Looks like a gibbon with two black eyes."**

**"It's Cris!" said George, pointing at the back of the picture, "says so on the back!"**

"Of course it does," Gwen said with a smile.

**"Good likeness," said Fred, grinning. Cris threw her new homework diary at her; it hit the wall opposite and fell to the floor where it said happily: "If you've dotted the 'i's and crossed the 't's then you may do whatever you please!"**

**They got up and dressed. They could hear the various inhabitants of the house calling "Happy Christmas" to one another. On their way downstairs they met Hermione. **

**"Thanks for the book, Cris" she said happily. "I've been wanting that New Theory of Numerology for ages! **

"Of course that would make Hermione happy." Padfoot said.

**And that perfume's really unusual, Ron."**

"Unusual how?" Lily asked.

"Just unexpected," Hermione said.

**"No problem," said Ron. "Who's that for, anyway?" he added, nodding at the neatly wrapped present she was carrying.**

**"Kreacher," said Hermione brightly.**

**"It had better not be clothes!" Ron warned her. "You know what Sirius said: Kreacher knows too much, we can't set him free!"**

**"It isn't clothes," said Hermione, "although if I had my way I'd certainly give him something to wear other than that filthy old rag. No, it's a patchwork quilt, I thought it would brighten up his bedroom."**

"That's thoughtful, though I don't know if he'll accept it." Padfoot said.

**"What bedroom?" said Cris, dropping her voice to a whisper as they were passing the portrait of Sirius's mother.**

**"Well, Sirius says it's not so much a bedroom, more a kind of -den," said Hermione. "Apparently he sleeps under the boiler in that cupboard off the kitchen." **

**Mrs. Weasley was the only person in the basement when they arrived there. She was standing at the stove and sounded as though she had a bad head cold as she wished them "Happy Christmas," and they all averted their eyes.**

**"So, is this Kreacher's bedroom?" said Ron, strolling over to a dingy door in the corner opposite the pantry. Cris had never seen it open.**

**"Yes," said Hermione, now sounding a little nervous. "Er… I think we'd better knock."**

**Ron rapped on the door with his knuckles but there was no reply.**

**"He must be sneaking around upstairs," he said, and without further ado pulled open the door. "Urgh!"**

**Cris peered inside. Most of the cupboard was taken up with a very large and old-fashioned boiler, but in the foot's space underneath the pipes Kreacher had made himself something that looked like a nest. A jumble of assorted rags and smelly old blankets were piled on the floor and the small dent in the middle of it showed where Kreacher curled up to sleep every night. Here and there among the material were stale bread crusts and moldy old bits of cheese. In a far corner glinted small objects and coins that Cris guessed Kreacher had saved, magpie-like, from Sirius's purge of the house, **

"Of course he did, remind me to go through that later." Sirius said.

"You might want to wait on that dad." Keiran said.

"Why?" he asked.

"You'll see later." Scarlett said.

**and she had also managed to retrieve the silver-framed family photographs that Sirius had thrown away over the summer. Their glass might be shattered, but still the little black-and-white people inside them peered up at her haughtily, including - she felt a little jolt in her stomach - the dark, heavy-lidded woman whose trial she had witnessed in Dumbledore's Pensieve: Bellatrix Lestrange. **

"Actually at that time it would be Bellatrix Black," Padfoot said with a shiver.

"Yikes, you have some major family problems." Gwen said.

"You have no idea." Prongs said.

**By the looks of it, hers was Kreacher's favorite photograph; he had placed it to the fore of all the others and had mended the glass clumsily with Spellotape.**

"They always did get along, next to Reg." Padfoot said.

**"I think I'll just leave his present here," said Hermione, laying the package neatly in the middle of the depression in the rags and blankets and closing the door quietly. "He'll find it later, that'll be fine."**

**"Come to think of it," said Sirius, emerging from the pantry carrying a large turkey as they closed the cupboard door, "has anyone actually seen Kreacher lately?"**

**"I haven't seen him since the night we came back here," said Cris. "You were ordering him out of the kitchen."**

**"Yeah…" said Sirius, frowning. "You know, I think that's the last time I saw him, too… he must be hiding upstairs somewhere."**

**"He couldn't have left, could he?" said Cris. "I mean, when you said 'out', maybe he thought you meant get out of the house?"**

**"No, no, house-elves can't leave unless they're given clothes. They're tied to their family's house," said Sirius.**

"But could he go to someone else who is part of the family?" Gwen asked.

"It's possible," Sirius said.

"That just means you need to order him to not say anything the next time you see him." Dumbledore said.

"I will," Sirius said.

**"They can leave the house if they really want to," Cris contradicted him. "Dobby did, he left the Malfoy's to give me warnings two years ago. He had to punish himself afterwards, but he still managed it."**

**Sirius looked slightly disconcerted for a moment, then said, "I'll look for him later, I expect I'll find him upstairs crying his eyes out over my mother's old bloomers or something. Of course, he might have crawled into the airing cupboard and died… but I mustn't get my hopes up."**

"I hope it's that and he didn't go to another house to reveal what we know." Tonks said.

"I hope so too," Kingsley said.

**Fred, George and Ron laughed; Hermione, however, looked reproachful.**

**Once they had eaten their Christmas lunch, the Weasleys, Cris and Hermione were planning to pay Mr. Weasley another visit, escorted by Mad-Eye and Remus. Mundungus turned up in time for Christmas pudding and trifle, having managed to 'borrow' a car for the occasion, as the Underground did not run on Christmas Day. The car, which Cris doubted very much had been taken with the knowledge or consent of its owner, had had a similar Enlarging Spell put upon it as the Weasley's old Ford Anglia; although normally proportioned outside, ten people with Mundungus driving were able to fit into it quite comfortably. Mrs. Weasley hesitated before getting inside - Cris knew her disapproval of Mundungus was battling with her dislike of traveling without magic - but, finally, the cold outside and her children's pleading triumphed, and she settled herself into the back seat between Fred and Bill with good grace.**

**The journey to St. Mungo's was quite quick as there was very little traffic on the roads. A small trickle of witches and wizards was creeping furtively up the otherwise deserted street to visit the hospital. Cris and the others got out of the car, and Mundungus drove off around the corner to wait for them. They strolled casually towards the window where the dummy in green nylon stood, then, one by one, stepped through the glass.**

**The reception area looked pleasantly festive: the crystal orbs that illuminated St. Mungo's had been colored red and gold to become gigantic, glowing Christmas baubles; holly hung around every doorway; and shining white Christmas trees covered in magical snow and icicles glittered in every corner, each one topped with a gleaming gold star. It was less crowded than the last time they had been there, although halfway across the room Cris found herself shunted aside by a witch with a walnut jammed up her left nostril.**

"That happens a lot at dinners." Padfoot said.

"You would know," Prongs said.

"Sadly yes," Padfoot said.

**"Family argument, eh?" smirked the blonde witch behind the desk. "You're the third I've seen today… Spell Damage, fourth floor."**

**They found Mr. Weasley propped up in bed with the remains of his turkey dinner on a tray on his lap and a rather sheepish expression on his face.**

"Oh no, what did you do know?" Charlie asked.

"You're about to find out Charlie." Ginny said with a giggle.

**"Everything all right, Arthur?" asked Mrs. Weasley, after they had all greeted Mr. Weasley and handed over their presents.**

**"Fine, fine," said Mr. Weasley, a little too heartily. "You — er — haven't seen Healer Smethwyck, have you?"**

**"No," said Mrs. Weasley suspiciously, "why?"**

**"Nothing, nothing," said Mr. Weasley airily, starting to unwrap his pile of gifts. "Well, everyone had a good day? What did you all get for Christmas? Oh, Cris - this is absolutely wonderful!" For he had just opened Cris' gift of fuse-wire and screwdrivers.**

"Those are perfect for him." Bill said.

"That's why I got them." Cris said.

**Mrs. Weasley did not seem entirely satisfied with Mr. Weasley's answer. As her husband leaned over to shake Cris' hand, she peered at the bandaging under his nightshirt.**

**"Arthur," she said, with a snap in her voice like a mousetrap, "you've had your bandages changed. Why have you had your bandages changed a day early, Arthur? They told me they wouldn't need doing until tomorrow."**

"Uh-oh, someone is in trouble," Sirius said.

**"What?" said Mr. Weasley, looking rather frightened and pulling the bed covers higher up his chest. "No, no - it's nothing - it's -I-"**

**He seemed to deflate under Mrs. Weasley's piercing gaze.**

**"Well - now don't get upset, Molly, but Augustus Pye had an idea… he's the Trainee Healer, you know, lovely young chap and very interested in… um… complementary medicine… I mean, some of these old Muggle remedies… well, they're called stitches, Molly, and they work very well on - on Muggle wounds -"**

"Those aren't fun." Gwen said. She lifted up her shirt to show the neat little scar on her side.

"They leave scars?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"They hold the skin together to heal so it does scar, everyone has at least one scar from stitches." Gwen said. Hermione pointed to a spot beneath her chin, Lily a spot on her knuckle.

"You don't have any?" Prongs asked Cris.

"No, do you honestly think Aunt Petunia would really take me to the doctor? I had to take care of everything myself." Cris said.

"Even when you were sick?" Robin asked.

"I never got sick," Cris said.

"That's surprising," Remus said.

**Mrs. Weasley let out an ominous noise somewhere between a shriek and a snarl. Remus strolled away from the bed and over to the werewolf, who had no visitors and was looking rather wistfully at the crowd around Mr. Weasley; Bill muttered something about getting himself a cup of tea and Fred and George leapt up to accompany him, grinning.**

**"Do you mean to tell me," said Mrs. Weasley, her voice growing louder with every word and apparently unaware that her fellow visitors were scurrying for cover, "that you have been messing about with Muggle remedies?"**

**"Not messing about, Molly, dear," said Mr. Weasley imploringly, "it was just - just something Pye and I thought we'd try - only, most unfortunately — well, with these particular kinds of wounds - it doesn't seem to work as well as we'd hoped -"**

**"Meaning?"**

**"Well… well, I don't know whether you know what - what stitches are?"**

**"It sounds as though you've been trying to sew your skin back together," said Mrs. Weasley with a snort of mirthless laughter,**

"That's exactly what it is." Gwen said.

**"but even you, Arthur, wouldn't be that stupid —"**

**"I fancy a cup of tea, too," said Cris, jumping to his feet.**

**Hermione, Ron and Ginny almost sprinted to the door with her. As it swung closed behind them, they heard Mrs. Weasley shriek, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THAT'S THE GENERAL IDEA?"**

**"Typical Dad," said Ginny, shaking her head as they set off up the corridor. "Stitches… I ask you…"**

**"Well, you know, they do work well on non-magical wounds," said Hermione fairly. "I suppose something in that snake's venom dissolves them or something. I wonder where the tearoom is?"**

**"Fifth floor," said Cris, remembering the sign over the welcome witch's desk.**

**They walked along the corridor, through a set of double doors and found a rickety staircase lined with more portraits of brutal-looking Healers. As they climbed it, the various Healers called out to them, diagnosing odd complaints and suggesting horrible remedies. Ron was seriously affronted when a medieval wizard called out that he clearly had a bad case of spattergroit.**

**"And what's that supposed to be?" he asked angrily, as the Healer pursued him through six more portraits, shoving the occupants out of the way.**

**"Tis a most grievous affliction of the skin, young master, that will leave you pockmarked and more gruesome even than you are now -"**

**"Watch who you're calling gruesome!" said Ron, his ears turning red.**

**"- the only remedy is to take the liver of a toad, bind it tight about your throat, stand naked at the full moon in a barrel of eels' eyes -"**

"Wow, just wow." Charlie said.

**"I have not got spattergroit!"**

**"But the unsightly blemishes upon your visage, young master -"**

"They're freckles!" cried the Weasley's.

**"They're freckles!" said Ron furiously. "Now get back in your own picture and leave me alone!" He rounded on the others, who were all keeping determinedly straight faces.**

**"What floor's this?"**

**"I think it's the fifth," said Hermione.**

**"Nah, it's the fourth," said Cris, "one more —"**

**But as she stepped on to the landing she came to an abrupt halt, staring at the small window set into the double doors that marked the start of a corridor signposted SPELL DAMAGE. A man was peering out at them all with his nose pressed against the glass. He had wavy blond hair, bright blue eyes and a broad vacant smile that revealed dazzlingly white teeth.**

"No way," Remus said.

"It's Lockhart." Sirius said.

"So that's where he is." Charlie said.

**"Blimey!" said Ron, also staring at the man.**

**"Oh, my goodness," said Hermione suddenly, sounding breathless. "Professor Lockhart!"**

**Their ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher pushed open the doors and moved towards them, wearing a long lilac dressing gown.**

**"Well, hello there!" he said. "I expect you'd like my autograph, would you?"**

"Well, he hadn't changed much." Sirius said.

"No kidding," Prongs said.

**"Hasn't changed much, has he?" Cris muttered to Ginny, who grinned.**

Cris smiled at her godfather and father and George continued.

**"Er — how are you, Professor?" said Ron, sounding slightly guilty. It had been Ron's malfunctioning wand that had damaged Professor Lockhart's memory so badly that he had landed in St. Mungo's in the first place,**

"Well I think he's better off that way." Robin said.

"I agree," Remus said.

**though as Lockhart had been attempting to permanently wipe Cris and Ron's memories at the time, Cris' sympathy was limited.**

**"I'm very well indeed, thank you!" said Lockhart exuberantly, pulling a rather battered peacock feather quill from his pocket. "Now, how many autographs would you like? I can do joined-up writing now, you know!"**

"Wow, he still does autographs?" Tonks asked.

"Yep," the trio and Ginny said.

**"Er - we don't want any at the moment, thanks," said Ron, raising his eyebrows at Cris, who asked, "Professor, should you be wandering around the corridors? Shouldn't you be in a ward?"**

**The smile faded slowly from Lockhart's face. For a few moments he gazed intently at Cris, then he said, "Haven't we met?"**

**"Er… yeah, we have," said Cris. "You used to teach us at Hogwarts, remember?"**

**"Teach?" repeated Lockhart, looking faintly unsettled. "Me? Did I?"**

**And then the smile reappeared upon his face so suddenly it was rather alarming.**

**"Taught you everything you know, I expect, did I? **

"No, not by a long shot." Sirius said.

"He wishes," Prongs said.

**Well, how about those autographs, then? Shall we say a round dozen, you can give them to all your little friends then and nobody will be left out!"**

**But just then a head poked out of a door at the far end of the corridor and a voice called, "Gilderoy, you naughty boy, where have you wandered off to?"**

**A motherly-looking Healer wearing a tinsel wreath in her hair came bustling up the corridor, smiling warmly at Cris and the others.**

**"Oh, Gilderoy, you've got visitors! How lovely, and on Christmas Day, too! Do you know, he never gets visitors, poor lamb, and I can't think why, he's such a sweetie, aren't you?"**

**"We're doing autographs!" Gilderoy told the Healer with another glittering smile. "They want loads of them, won't take no for an answer! I just hope we've got enough photographs!"**

**"Listen to him," said the Healer, taking Lockhart's arm and beaming fondly at him as though he were a precocious two-year-old.**

"Well he's acting like one." Ron said.

**"He was rather well known a few years ago; we very much hope that this liking for giving autographs is a sign that his memory might be starting to come back. Will you step this way? He's in a closed ward, you know, he must have slipped out while I was bringing in the Christmas presents, the door's usually kept locked… not that he's dangerous! But," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "he's a bit of a danger to himself, bless him… doesn't know who he is, you see, wanders off and can't remember how to get back… it is nice of you to have come to see him."**

**"Er," said Ron, gesturing uselessly at the floor above, "actually, we were just — er -"**

**But the Healer was smiling expectantly at them, and Ron's feeble mutter of "going to have a cup of tea" trailed away into nothingness. They looked at each other helplessly, then followed Lockhart and his Healer along the corridor.**

**"Let's not stay long," Ron said quietly.**

**The Healer pointed her wand at the door of the Janus Thickey Ward and muttered, "Alohomora."**

"Of course you would be there when I'm there." Neville mumbled.

"It's Cris' luck," Ginny muttered.

**The door swung open and she led the way inside, keeping a firm grasp on Gilderoy's arm until she had settled him into an armchair beside his bed.**

**"This is our long-term residents' ward," she informed Cris, Ron, Hermione and Ginny in a low voice. "For permanent spell damage, you know. Of course, with intensive remedial potions and charms and a bit of luck, we can produce some improvement. Gilderoy does seem to be getting back some sense of himself; and we've seen a real improvement in Mr. Bode, he seems to be regaining the power of speech very well, though he isn't speaking any language we recognize yet. Well, I must finish giving out the Christmas presents; I'll leave you all to chat."**

**Cris looked around. The ward bore unmistakable signs of being a permanent home to its residents. They had many more personal effects around their beds than in Mr. Weasley's ward; the wall around Gilderoy's headboard, for instance, was papered with pictures of himself, all beaming toothily and waving at the new arrivals. He had autographed many of them to himself in disjointed, childish writing. The moment he had been deposited in his chair by the Healer, Gilderoy pulled a fresh stack of photographs towards him, seized a quill and started signing them all feverishly.**

**"You can put them in envelopes," he said to Ginny, throwing the signed pictures into her lap one by one as he finished them. "I am not forgotten, you know, no, I still receive a very great deal of fan mail… Gladys Gudgeon writes weekly… I just wish I knew why." He paused, looking faintly puzzled, then beamed again and returned to his signing with renewed vigor. "I suspect it is simply my good looks…"**

**A sallow-skinned, mournful-looking wizard lay in the bed opposite staring at the ceiling; he was mumbling to himself and seemed quite unaware of anything around him. Two beds along was a woman whose entire head was covered in fur; Cris remembered something similar happening to Hermione during their second year, although fortunately the damage, in her case, had not been permanent. **

**At the far end of the ward flowery curtains had been drawn around two beds to give the occupants and their visitors some privacy.**

Neville looked down, and looked over to his younger parents, they wouldn't like this part one bit. Ginny sensing his discomfort squeezed his hand as George continued reading.

**"Here you are, Agnes," said the Healer brightly to the furry-faced woman, handing her a small pile of Christmas presents. "See, not forgotten, are you? And your son's sent an owl to say he's visiting tonight, so that's nice, isn't it?"**

**Agnes gave several loud barks.**

**"And look, Broderick, you've been sent a potted plant and a lovely calendar with a different fancy Hippogriff for each month; they'll brighten things up, won't they?" said the Healer, bustling along to the mumbling man, setting a rather ugly plant with long, swaying tentacles**

Neville's eyes widened as did Alice's, "That's Devil's Snare," they said together.

"Are you sure?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Neville gets top grades in that class so he knows." Ginny said.

**on the bedside cabinet and fixing the calendar to the wall with her wand. "And - oh, Mrs. Longbottom, are you leaving already?"**

"Why is mum there?" Frank asked.

"Frank, you're not going to like what's going to come next." Prongs said.

"Why?" he asked.

"George, just keep reading," Padfoot said.

**Cris' head span round. The curtains had been drawn back from the two beds at the end of the ward and two visitors were walking back down the aisle between the beds: a formidable-looking old witch wearing a long green dress, a moth-eaten fox fur and a pointed hat decorated with what was unmistakably a stuffed vulture and, trailing behind her looking thoroughly depressed - Neville.**

**With a sudden rush of understanding, Cris realized who the people in the end beds must be. She cast around wildly for some means of distracting the others so that Neville could leave the ward unnoticed and unquestioned, **

"Thanks Cris," Neville said.

"I tried," Cris said.

**but Ron had also looked up at the sound of the name "Longbottom", and before Cris could stop him had called out, "Neville!"**

"Sorry, if I had known you didn't want any company I wouldn't have said anything." Ron said.

"It's alright," Neville said.

**Neville jumped and cowered as though a bullet had narrowly missed him.**

**"It's us, Neville!" said Ron brightly, getting to his feet. "Have you seen -? Lockhart's here! Who've you been visiting?"**

Ginny and Hermione slapped Ron upside the head and Cris threw a pillow at him.

"Oi, I know I was being a prat." Ron said.

"Good," the three girls said.

**"Friends of yours, Neville, dear?" said Neville's grandmother graciously, bearing down upon them all.**

**Neville looked as though he would rather be anywhere in the world but here. A dull purple flush was creeping up his plump face and he was not making eye contact with any of them.**

**"Ah, yes," said his grandmother, looking closely at Cris and sticking out a shrivelled, claw like hand for her to shake. "Yes, yes, I know who you are, of course. Neville speaks most highly of you."**

**"Er - thanks," said Cris, shaking hands. Neville did not look at her, but surveyed his own feet, the color deepening in his face all the while.**

**"And you two are clearly Weasley's," Mrs. Longbottom continued, proffering her hand regally to Ron and Ginny in turn. "Yes, I know your parents — not well, of course — but fine people, fine people… and you must be Hermione Granger?"**

**Hermione looked rather startled that Mrs. Longbottom knew her name, but shook hands all the same.**

**"Yes, Neville's told me all about you. Helped him out of a few sticky spots, haven't you? He's a good boy," she said, casting a sternly appraising look down her rather bony nose at Neville, "but he hasn't got his father's talent, I'm afraid to say." **

"You have your own talent and you're a bit more like your mother than your father." McGonagall said.

"And you're doing really well with Defense." Cris said.

"Thanks," Neville said.

"Uncle Neville, your grandma is super proud of you in the future." Victoire said.

"Really?" Neville asked.

"Yep, but we can't tell you why." Keiran said.

**And she jerked her head in the direction of the two beds at the end of the ward, so that the stuffed vulture on her hat trembled alarmingly.**

**"What?" said Ron, looking amazed. (Cris wanted to stamp on Ron's foot, but that sort of thing is much harder to bring off unnoticed when you're wearing jeans rather than robes.) **

"You should have, I'm sorry Nev." Ron said.

"It's fine, I would have told you guys eventually." Neville said.

**"Is that your dad down the end, Neville?"**

Ron was submitted to more slaps and a pillow to the face again.

**"What's this?" said Mrs. Longbottom sharply. "Haven't you told your friends about your parents, Neville?"**

**Neville took a deep breath, looked up at the ceiling and shook his head. Cris could not remember ever feeling sorrier for anyone, but she could not think of any way of helping Neville out of the situation.**

**"Well, it's nothing to be ashamed of!" said Mrs. Longbottom angrily. "You should be proud, Neville, proud! They didn't give their health and their sanity so their only son would be ashamed of them, you know!"**

"I'm sure you're not ashamed." Tonks said.

"I'm not, I'm just embarrassed to say anything." Neville said.

"I can understand that." Tonks said. Alice and Frank were staring wide eyed at the book as George continued reading.

**"I'm not ashamed," said Neville, very faintly, still looking anywhere but at Cris and the others.**

**Ron was now standing on tiptoe to look over at the inhabitants of the two beds.**

More slaps and pillows were sent Ron's way and he had to dodge and catch them.

**"Well, you've got a funny way of showing it!" said Mrs. Longbottom. "My son and his wife," she said, turning haughtily to Cris, Ron, Hermione and Ginny, "were tortured into insanity by You-Know-Who's followers."**

"What?!" Alice and Frank shouted.

"It's true," Neville said.

"Who?" Frank asked.

"My cousin Bella and her husband and Crouch Jr." Padfoot said. Alice cried into Frank's arms as he comforted her and George continued reading.

**Hermione and Ginny both clapped their hands over their mouths. Ron stopped craning his neck to catch a glimpse of Neville's parents and looked mortified.**

"Yeah, now that they know they're horrified." Draco muttered.

"Zat is terrible," Fleur said.

"I've gotten used to it." Neville said. Alice stood up and went over to Neville and pulled him into a hug and he hugged back now knowing how Cris felt.

**"They were Aurors, you know, and very well respected within the wizarding community" Mrs. Longbottom went on. "Highly gifted, the pair of them. I - yes, Alice dear, what is it?"**

**Neville's mother had come edging down the ward in her nightdress. She no longer had the plump, happy-looking face Cris had seen in Moody's old photograph of the original Order of the Phoenix. Her face was thin and worn now, her eyes seemed overlarge and her hair, which had turned white, was wispy and dead-looking. She did not seem to want to speak, or perhaps she was not able to, **

"She can't," Neville mumbled.

"That's what becomes of us?" Frank asked.

"Sadly," Remus said.

"Don't worry Alls, we'll change this." Lily said.

**but she made timid motions towards Neville, holding something in her outstretched hand.**

**"Again?" said Mrs. Longbottom, sounding slightly weary. "Very well, Alice dear, very well - Neville, take it, whatever it is."**

**But Neville had already stretched out his hand, into which his mother dropped an empty Drooble's Best Blowing Gum wrapper.**

"That's my favorite," Alice said sadly.

**"Very nice, dear," said Neville's grandmother in a falsely cheery voice, patting his mother on the shoulder. But Neville said quietly, "Thanks, Mum."**

**His mother tottered away, back up the ward, humming to herself. Neville looked around at the others, his expression defiant; as though daring them to laugh, but Cris did not think she'd ever found anything less funny in her life.**

**"Well, we'd better get back," sighed Mrs. Longbottom, drawing on long green gloves. "Very nice to have met you all. Neville, put that wrapper in the bin, she must have given you enough of them to paper your bedroom by now."**

**But as they left, Cris was sure she saw Neville slip the candy wrapper into his pocket.**

"I did, I keep them all." Neville said.

"What do you do with them?" Frank asked.

"I have this photo album that I keep them in." Neville said.

**The door closed behind them.**

**"I never knew," said Hermione, who looked tearful.**

**"Nor did I," said Ron rather hoarsely.**

**"Nor me," whispered Ginny.**

**They all looked at Cris.**

**"I did," she said glumly. "Dumbledore told me but I promised I wouldn't tell anyone… that's what Bellatrix Lestrange got sent to Azkaban for, using the Cruciatus Curse on Neville's parents until they lost their minds."**

**"Bellatrix Lestrange did that?" whispered Hermione, horrified. "That woman Kreacher's got a photo of in his den?"**

"The very same." Sirius said darkly.

**There was a long silence, broken by Lockhart's angry voice.**

**"Look, I didn't learn joined-up writing for nothing, you know!"**

Though everyone was sad that last comment made most of the room laugh.

"That's the chapter." George said. James got up and took the book from his dad and sat back down to read that next chapter.


	26. Chapter 24: Occlumency

"**Chapter 24: Occlumency," **James read.

"It's during this chapter that we got sent here." Cris said.

"So from the next chapter on we will be reading about the future." Hermione said.

"Yep," Cris said uncertainly.

**Kreacher, it transpired, had been lurking in the attic.**

"Or had he, how can you be sure that he hasn't left the house?" Gwen asked.

"I can't, that's the problem unless I ordered him to tell me truthfully where he had been." Sirius said.

**Sirius said he had found him up there, covered in dust, no doubt looking for more relics of the Black family to hide in his cupboard. Though Sirius seemed satisfied with this story, it made Cris uneasy. Kreacher seemed to be in a better mood on his reappearance, his bitter muttering had subsided somewhat and he submitted to orders more docilely than usual, though once or twice Cris caught the house-elf staring at her avidly, but always looking quickly away whenever he saw that Cris had noticed.**

"You should have told me, I would have done something about it." Sirius said.

"Sorry," Cris said.

**Cris did not mention her vague suspicions to Sirius, whose cheerfulness was evaporating fast now that Christmas was over. As the date of their departure back to Hogwarts drew nearer, he became more and more prone to what Mrs. Weasley called 'fits of the sullens', in which he would become taciturn and grumpy, often withdrawing to Buckbeak's room for hours at a time. His gloom seeped through the house, oozing under doorways like some noxious gas, so that all of them became infected by it.**

**Cris didn't want to leave Sirius again with only Kreacher for company; in fact, for the first time in her life, she was not looking forward to returning to Hogwarts. Going back to school would mean placing herself once again under the tyranny of Dolores Umbridge, who had no doubt managed to force through another dozen decrees in their absence; there was no Quidditch to look forward to now that she had been banned; there was every likelihood that their burden of homework would increase as the exams drew even nearer; and Dumbledore remained as remote as ever. In fact, if it hadn't been for the D.A., Cris thought she might have begged Sirius to let her leave Hogwarts and remain in Grimmauld Place.**

"I wish pup, but you need to go to school." Sirius said.

"It was worth a shot." Cris said.

"Thank you," Lily mouthed to Sirius who nodded.

**Then, on the very last day of the holidays, something happened that made Cris positively dread her return to school.**

"Really, what could that be?" Prongs asked.

"You'll see Dad," Cris said.

**"****Cris, dear," said Mrs. Weasley, poking her head in to her and Ron's bedroom, where the pair of them were playing wizard chess watched by Hermione, Ginny and Crookshanks, "could you come down to the kitchen? Professor Snape would like a word with you." **

"Snape?" Padfoot asked.

"He's the only one of my staff that could teach her." Dumbledore said.

"What about you?" Robin asked.

"I cannot, I'm sure it'll explain later." Dumbledore said.

**Cris did not immediately register what she had said; one of her castles was engaged in a violent tussle with a pawn of Ron's and she was egging it on enthusiastically. **

The group laughed at that and James continued.

**"****Squash him - squash him, he's only a pawn, you idiot. Sorry, Mrs. Weasley, what did you say?"**

**"****Professor Snape, dear. In the kitchen. He'd like a word."**

**Cris' mouth fell open in horror. She looked around at Ron, Hermione and Ginny, all of whom were gaping back at her. Crookshanks, whom Hermione had been restraining with difficulty for the past quarter of an hour, leapt gleefully on to the board and set the pieces running for cover, squealing at the top of their voices.**

**"****Snape?" said Cris blankly.**

**"****Professor Snape, dear," said Mrs. Weasley reprovingly. "Now come on, quickly, he says he can't stay long." **

"Good," muttered Sirius.

**"****What's he want with you?" said Ron, looking unnerved as Mrs. Weasley withdrew from the room. "You haven't done anything, have you?"**

**"****No!" said Cris indignantly, racking her brains to think what she could have done that would make Snape pursue her to Grimmauld Place. Had her last piece of homework perhaps earned a T?**

"No, actually that one was an A." Snape said begrudgingly.

"Really?" Cris asked. Snape gave a stiff nod and she looked over at her two friends gaping.

**A minute or two later, she pushed open the kitchen door to find Sirius and Snape both seated at the long kitchen table, glaring in opposite directions. The silence between them was heavy with mutual dislike. A letter lay open on the table in front of Sirius.**

**"****Er," said Cris, to announce her presence. **

"Probably not the best choice of words." Fred said.

"Sorry, I didn't know what to say." Cris said.

**Snape looked around at him, his face framed between curtains of greasy black hair.**

**"****Sit down, Potter."**

**"****You know," said Sirius loudly, leaning back on his rear chair legs and speaking to the ceiling, "I think I'd prefer it if you didn't give orders here, Snape. It's my house, you see."**

**An ugly flush suffused Snape's pallid face. Cris sat down in a chair beside Sirius, facing Snape across the table.**

**"****I was supposed to see you alone, Potter," said Snape, the familiar sneer curling his mouth, "but Black -"**

**"****I'm her godfather," said Sirius, louder than ever.**

"It does give him the right to be there." Remus said.

**"****I am here on Dumbledore's orders," said Snape, whose voice, by contrast, was becoming more and more quietly waspish, "but by all means stay, Black, I know you like to feel… involved."**

"That's uncalled for." Lily said glaring at her ex best friend.

**"****What's that supposed to mean?" said Sirius, letting his chair fall back on to all four legs with a loud bang.**

**"****Merely that I am sure you must feel - ah - frustrated by the fact that you can do nothing useful," Snape laid a delicate stress on the word, "for the Order."**

"Severus, stop baiting him. And you wonder why the two of you never get along." Lily said.

**It was Sirius's turn to flush. Snape's lip curled in triumph as he turned to Cris.**

**"****The Headmaster has sent me to tell you, Potter, that it is his wish for you to study Occlumency this term."**

"It would be good to learn, I'm just not sure whether it's a good thing for Snape to teach her." Prongs said uncertainly.

"We'll just see after the first lesson then." Lily said.

**"****Study what?" said Cris blankly.**

**Snape's sneer became more pronounced.**

**"****Occlumency, Potter. The magical Defense of the mind against external penetration. An obscure branch of magic, but a highly useful one."**

"Then how would she know it?" Lily asked sharply. Snape didn't say anything just sat there and James continued.

**Cris' heart began to pump very fast indeed. Defense against external penetration? But she was not being possessed, they had all agreed on that…**

**"****Why do I have to study Occlu — thing?" she blurted out.**

**"****Because the Headmaster thinks it a good idea," said Snape smoothly. "You will receive private lessons once a week, but you will not tell anybody what you are doing, least of all Dolores Umbridge. You understand?"**

"Ah, but knowing her she will tell Ron and Hermione." Ginny said.

"Yeah, there are no secrets between them." Neville said. Dumbledore chuckled and Snape sneered.

**"Yes," said Cris. "Who's going to be teaching me?"**

**Snape raised an eyebrow.**

**"****I am," he said.**

"I really don't like that idea." Padfoot said.

**Cris had the horrible sensation that her insides were melting.**

**Extra lessons with Snape - what on earth had she done to deserve this? She looked quickly round at Sirius for support.**

**"****Why can't Dumbledore teach Cris?" asked Sirius aggressively. "Why you?"**

**"****I suppose because it is a headmaster's privilege to delegate less enjoyable tasks," said Snape silkily. "I assure you I did not beg for the job." He got to his feet. "I will expect you at six o'clock on Monday evening, Potter. My office. If anybody asks, you are taking remedial Potions. Nobody who has seen you in my classes could deny you need them."**

"She does just fine!" Hermione snapped.

"But that is a good excuse." murmured Lily.

**"****Wait a moment," said Sirius, sitting up straighter in his chair.**

**Snape turned back to face them, sneering.**

**"****I am in rather a hurry, Black. Unlike you, I do not have unlimited leisure time."**

**"****I'll get to the point, then," said Sirius, standing up. He was rather taller than Snape who, Cris noticed, balled his fist in the pocket of his cloak over what Cris was sure was the handle of his wand. "If I hear you're using these Occlumency lessons to give Cris a hard time, you'll have me to answer to."**

**"****How touching," Snape sneered. "But surely you have noticed that Potter is very like her father?"**

"In some ways you are and in others you aren't." Prongs said. Cris smiled greatly at that, it was good to hear.

**"****Yes, I have, but she is also like Lily" said Sirius proudly.**

**"****Well then, you'll know she's so arrogant that criticism simply bounces off her," Snape said sleekly ignoring the last comment. **

"Of course he did. I wonder what you would have done if she looked like me." Lily said. Snape stopped and looked up, what would he have done?

**Sirius pushed his chair roughly aside and strode around the table towards Snape, pulling out his wand as he went. Snape whipped out his own. They were squaring up to each other, Sirius looking livid, Snape calculating, his eyes darting from Sirius's wand-tip to his face.**

**"Sirius!" said Cris loudly, but Sirius appeared not to hear her.**

**"I've warned you, Snivellus," said Sirius, his face barely a foot from Snape's, "I don't care if Dumbledore thinks you've reformed, I know better -"**

**"Oh, but why don't you tell him so?" whispered Snape. "Or are you afraid he might not take very seriously the advice of a man who has been hiding inside his mother's house for six months?"**

"It wasn't my choice; I'd like to see you in my shoes." Sirius muttered.

**"****Tell me, how is Lucius Malfoy these days? I expect he's delighted his lapdog's working at Hogwarts, isn't he?"**

**"****Speaking of dogs," said Snape softly, "did you know that Lucius Malfoy recognized you last time you risked a little jaunt outside? Clever idea, Black, getting yourself seen on a safe station platform… gave you a cast-iron excuse not to leave your hidey-hole in future, didn't it?"**

**Sirius raised his wand.**

**"****NO!" Cris yelled, vaulting over the table and trying to get in between them. "Sirius, don't!"**

"And that's when we got zapped here." Cris said.

"Oohh, let's see what happens if this little fight wasn't interrupted." Ginny said.

**"****Are you calling me a coward?" roared Sirius, trying to push Cris out of the way, but Cris would not budge.**

**"****Why, yes, I suppose I am," said Snape.**

**"****Cris - get - out - of - it!" snarled Sirius, pushing her aside with his free hand.**

**The kitchen door opened and the entire Weasley family, plus Hermione, came inside, all looking very happy, with Mr. Weasley walking proudly in their midst dressed in a pair of striped pajamas covered by a mackintosh.**

**"****Cured!" he announced brightly to the kitchen at large. "Completely cured!"**

"Well, that's a good distraction." Hermione said. They were all looking forward to seeing what happens in the future.

**He and all the other Weasleys froze on the threshold, gazing at the scene in front of them, which was also suspended in mid-action, both Sirius and Snape looking towards the door with their wands pointing into each other's faces and Cris immobile between them, a hand stretched out to each, trying to force them apart.**

**"****Merlin's beard," said Mr. Weasley, the smile sliding off his face, "what's going on here?"**

"Nothing, just a disagreement that's about to turn bloody." Prongs said.

"That does seem to be what's going on." Lily said.

**Both Sirius and Snape lowered their wands. Cris looked from one to the other. Each wore an expression of utmost contempt, yet the unexpected entrance of so many witnesses seemed to have brought them to their senses. Snape pocketed his wand, turned on his heel and swept back across the kitchen, passing the Weasleys without comment. At the door he looked back.**

**"****Six o'clock, Monday evening, Potter."**

**And he was gone. Sirius glared after him, his wand at his side.**

**"****What's been going on?" asked Mr. Weasley again.**

"Nothing really," Cris said.

**"****Nothing, Arthur," said Sirius, who was breathing heavily as though he had just run a long distance. "Just a friendly little chat between two old school friends."**

"Yeah right," Padfoot said.

"That was actually calm; no hexes were thrown this time." Moony said.

**With what looked like an enormous effort, he smiled. "So… you're cured? That's great news, really great."**

**"****Yes, isn't it?" said Mrs. Weasley, leading her husband forward to a chair. "Healer Smethwyck worked his magic in the end, found an antidote to whatever that snake's got in its fangs, and Arthur's learned his lesson about dabbling in Muggle medicine, haven't you, dear?" she added, rather menacingly.**

**"****Yes, Molly, dear," said Mr. Weasley meekly.**

"Yeah, stitches aren't fun." Gwen said.

"I don't meddle with it again, do I?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"No, the first time was enough," Victoire said with a smile.

**That night's meal should have been a cheerful one, with Mr. Weasley back amongst them. Cris could tell Sirius was trying to make it so, yet when her godfather was not forcing himself to laugh loudly at Fred and George's jokes or offering everyone more food, his face fell back into a moody, brooding expression. Cris was separated from him by Mundungus and Mad-Eye, who had dropped in to offer Mr. Weasley their congratulations. She wanted to talk to Sirius, to tell him he shouldn't listen to a word Snape said, that Snape was goading him deliberately and that the rest of them didn't think Sirius was a coward for doing as Dumbledore told him and remaining in Grimmauld Place. But she had no opportunity to do so, and, eyeing the ugly look on Sirius's face, Cris wondered occasionally whether she would have dared to mention it even if she had the chance.**

**Instead, she told Ron and Hermione under her voice about having to take Occlumency lessons with Snape. **

"Of course she did." Snape muttered.

**"****Dumbledore wants to stop you having those dreams about Voldemort," said Hermione at once. "Well, you won't be sorry not to have them anymore, will you?"**

**"****Extra lessons with Snape?" said Ron, sounding aghast. "I'd rather have the nightmares!"**

"I don't know which I would prefer." Cris said.

"I don't know either." Ron said.

**They were to return to Hogwarts on the Knight Bus the following day, escorted once again by Tonks and Remus, both of whom were eating breakfast in the kitchen when Cris, Ron and Hermione came down next morning.**

**The adults seemed to have been mid-way through a whispered conversation as Cris opened the door; all of them looked round hastily and fell silent.**

"You have no idea how annoying that is." Cris said.

"I understand, but you know we are only doing it to protect you." Sirius said.

"I know, but it'll help if I knew what to look out for." Cris said.

"That is very true," Prongs said.

**After a hurried breakfast, they all pulled on jackets and scarves against the chilly grey January morning. Cris had an unpleasant constricted sensation in her chest; she did not want to say goodbye to Sirius. She had a bad feeling about this parting; she didn't know when they would next see each other and she felt it was incumbent upon her to say something to Sirius to stop him doing anything stupid – **

"Thank you Cris," Sirius said kissing her head.

"I can't help but worry," Cris said.

"I know, and being at school without hearing from me must be frustrating." Sirius said.

"It is," Cris said.

**Cris was worried that Snape's accusation of cowardice had stung Sirius so badly he might even now be planning some foolhardy trip beyond Grimmauld Place. Before she could think of what to say, however, Sirius had beckoned her to his side.**

**"****I want you to take this," he said quietly, thrusting a badly wrapped package roughly the size of a paperback book into Cris' hands.**

**"****What is it?" Cris asked.**

**"****A way of letting me know if Snape's giving you a hard time. No, don't open it in here!" said Sirius, with a wary look at Mrs. Weasley, who was trying to persuade the twins to wear hand knitted mittens. "I doubt Molly would approve - but I want you to use it if you need me, all right?" **

"I should have given you a letter telling you what it was." Sirius said smacking his head with his hand.

"What is it?" Cris asked.

"A two-way mirror." Sirius said.

"Really?" she asked.

"It's very useful; you can talk to the person who has the other mirror without being caught." Prongs said.

"Cool," Cris said.

**"****Okay," said Cris, stowing the package away in the inside pocket of her jacket, but she knew she would never use whatever it was. **

"Don't worry, I will this time." Cris said.

"Good," Sirius said.

**It would not be she, Cris, who lured Sirius from his place of safety, no matter how foully Snape treated her in their forthcoming Occlumency classes.**

"It's my job to worry about you, though I know you worry about me being caught." Sirius said.

"I know," Cris muttered.

"**Let's go, then," said Sirius, hugging Cris and smiling grimly, and before Cris could say anything else, they were heading upstairs, stopping before the heavily chained and bolted front door, surrounded by Weasleys.**

"**Goodbye, Cris, take care," said Mrs. Weasley, hugging her.**

"**See you, Cris, and keep an eye out for snakes for me!" said Mr. Weasley genially, shaking her hand.**

"Dad/Arthur," the group groaned.

**"Right - yeah," said Cris distractedly; it was her last chance to tell Sirius to be careful; she turned, looked into her godfather's face: and opened her mouth to speak, but before she could do so Sirius was giving her a brief, one-armed hug, and saying gruffly, "Look after yourself, Cris." Next moment, Cris found herself being shunted out into the icy winter air, with Tonks (today heavily disguised as a tall, tweedy woman with iron-grey hair) chivvying her down the steps.**

**The door of number twelve slammed shut behind them. They followed Remus down the front steps. As she reached the pavement, Cris looked round. Number twelve was shrinking rapidly as those on either side of it stretched sideways, squeezing it out of sight. One blink later, it had gone.**

"That's sounds so cool yet weird at the same time." Gwen said.

**"****Come on, the quicker we get on the bus the better," said Tonks, and Cris thought there was nervousness in the glance she threw around the square. Remus flung out his right arm.**

**BANG.**

**A violently purple, triple-decker bus had appeared out of thin air in front of them, narrowly avoiding the nearest lamppost, which jumped backwards out of its way.**

**A thin, pimply, jug-eared youth in a purple uniform leapt down on to the pavement and said, "Welcome to the -"**

**"****Yes, yes, we know, thank you," said Tonks swiftly. "On, on, get on -"**

**And she shoved Cris forwards towards the steps, past the conductor, who goggled at Cris as she passed.**

**"****Ere - it's Cris -!"**

**"****If you shout her name I will curse you into oblivion," muttered Tonks menacingly, **

"I would too," Tonks said.

"Thank god, we don't need anyone trying anything out in the open." Remus said.

**now shunting Ginny and Hermione forwards.**

**"****I've always wanted to go on this thing," said Ron happily, joining Cris on board and looking around.**

"I don't want to anymore." Ron said.

"Good, it's not that fun." Cris said.

**It had been evening the last time Cris had traveled by Knight Bus and its three decks had been full of brass bedsteads. Now, in the early morning, it was crammed with an assortment of mismatched chairs grouped haphazardly around windows. Some of these appeared to have fallen over when the bus stopped abruptly in Grimmauld Place; a few witches and wizards were still getting to their feet, grumbling, and somebody's shopping bag had slid the length of the bus: an unpleasant mixture of frogspawn, cockroaches and custard creams was scattered all over the floor.**

Most of the girls scrunched up their noses.

**"****Looks like we'll have to split up," said Tonks briskly, looking around for empty chairs. "Fred, George and Ginny, if you just take those seats at the back… Remus can stay with you."**

"Ah, we're being separated." George said.

"We're not together yet in the book." Cris said.

"True, I wonder if we'll get together soon." Fred said.

"I hope so," Cris said.

**She, Cris, Ron and Hermione proceeded up to the very top deck, where there were two unoccupied chairs at the very front of the bus and two at the back. Stan Shunpike, the conductor, followed Cris and Ron eagerly to the back. Heads turned as Cris passed and, when she sat down, she saw all the faces flick back to the front again.**

**As Cris and Ron handed Stan eleven Sickles each, the bus set off again, swaying ominously. It rumbled around Grimmauld Place, weaving on and off the pavement, then, with another tremendous BANG, they were all flung backwards; Ron's chair toppled right over and Pigwidgeon, who had been on his lap, burst out of his cage and flew twittering wildly up to the front of the bus where he fluttered down on to Hermione's shoulder instead. Cris, who had narrowly avoided falling by seizing a candle bracket, looked out of the window: they were now speeding down what appeared to be a motorway.**

**"****Just outside Birmingham," said Stan happily, answering Cris' unasked question as Ron struggled up from the floor. "You keepin' well, then, Cris? **

"I thought I told him to keep quiet." Tonks said.

"You did," Charlie said with a grin.

**I seen your name in the paper loads over the summer, but it weren't never nuffink very nice. I said to Ern, I said, she didn't seem like a nutter when we met 'er, just goes to show, dunnit?"**

"Just shut up already," Sirius said. Teddy however looked over to Keiran wondering when it was that Stan had switched sides, Keiran shrugged his shoulders.

**He handed over their tickets and continued to gaze, enthralled, at Crus. Apparently, Stan did not care how nutty somebody was, if they were famous enough to be in the paper. The Knight Bus swayed alarmingly, overtaking a line of cars on the inside. Looking towards the front of the bus, Cris saw Hermione cover her eyes with her hands, Pigwidgeon swaying happily on her shoulder.**

**BANG.**

**Chairs slid backwards again as the Knight Bus jumped from the Birmingham motorway to a quiet country lane full of hairpin bends. Hedgerows on either side of the road were leaping out of their way as they mounted the verges. From here they moved to a main street in the middle of a busy town, then to a viaduct surrounded by tall hills, then to a windswept road between high-rise flats, each time with a loud BANG.**

**"****I've changed my mind," muttered Ron, picking himself up from the floor for the sixth time, "I never want to ride on this thing again."**

"Do I?" Ron asked looking green at the thought.

"Not that I know of." Lily J said.

"That's good enough for me." Ron said.

**"****Listen, it's 'Ogwarts stop after this," said Stan brightly, swaying towards them. "That bossy woman**

"If he means, me…" Tonks said her hair going bright red.

**up front 'oo got on with you, she's given us a little tip to move you up the queue. We're just gonna let Madam Marsh off first, though -" there was more retching from downstairs, followed by a horrible spattering sound "- she's not feeling 'er best." **

"I don't suggest being on there while pregnant either." Robin said rubbing her slightly swollen stomach.

"Alright, note to self never travel on Knight Bus ever again." The girls in the room said.

**A few minutes later, the Knight Bus screeched to a halt outside a small pub, which squeezed itself out of the way to avoid a collision. They could hear Stan ushering the unfortunate Madam Marsh out of the bus and the relieved murmurings of her fellow passengers on the second deck. The bus moved on again, gathering speed, until -**

**BANG.**

**They were rolling through a snowy Hogsmeade. Cris caught a glimpse of the Hog's Head down its side street, the severed boar's head sign creaking in the wintry wind. Flecks of snow hit the large window at the front of the bus. At last they rolled to a halt outside the gates to Hogwarts.**

**Remus and Tonks helped them off the bus with their luggage, then got off to say goodbye. Cris glanced up at the three decks of the Knight Bus and saw all the passengers staring down at them, noses flat against the windows.**

"Stop staring!" cried the room.

"I've gotten used to it." Cris said.

"It gets worse." Scarlett said.

"Great, looking forward to it." Cris said.

"No you won't, because we'll change everything." Padfoot said.

**"****You'll be safe once you're in the grounds," said Tonks, casting a careful eye around at the deserted road. "Have a good term, okay?"**

**"****Look after yourselves," said Remus, shaking hands all round and reaching Cris last. "And listen…" he lowered his voice while the rest of them exchanged last-minute goodbyes with Tonks, "Cris, I know you don't like Snape, but he is a superb Occlumens and we all - Sirius included - want you to learn to protect yourself, so work hard, all right?"**

**"****Yeah, all right," said Cris heavily, looking up into Remus' prematurely lined face. "See you, then."**

**The six of them struggled up the slippery drive towards the castle, dragging their trunks.**

**Hermione was already talking about knitting a few elf hats before bedtime. Cris glanced back when they reached the oaken front doors; the Knight Bus had already gone and she half-wished, given what was coming the following evening, that she was still on board.**

**Cris spent most of the next day dreading the evening. Her morning double-Potions lesson did nothing to dispel her trepidation, as Snape was as unpleasant as ever. Her mood was further lowered by the D.A. members constantly approaching her in the corridors between classes, asking hopefully if there would be a meeting that night.**

**"****I'll let you know in the usual way when the next one is," Cris said over and over again, "but I can't do it tonight, I've got to go to - er - remedial Potions."**

**"****You take remedial Potions!" asked Zacharias Smith superciliously, having cornered Cris in the Entrance Hall after lunch. "Good Lord, you must be terrible. Snape doesn't usually give extra lessons, does he?"**

"You should say something else next time." Prongs said.

"I will, I really don't like that guy." Cris said.

"Neither do we," the twins said.

**As Smith strode away in an annoyingly buoyant fashion, Ron glared after him.**

**"****Shall I jinx him? I can still get him from here," he said, raising his wand and taking aim between Smith's shoulder blades.**

"Do it!" the twins cried.

"Don't do it," cried the adults.

**"Forget it," said Cris dismally. "It's what everyone's going to think, isn't it? That I'm really stup —"**

**"****Hi, Cris," said a couple voices behind her. She turned round and found Fred and George standing there.**

**"****Oh," said Cris as her stomach leapt uncomfortably. "Hi."**

"Hi, that's all you say is hi?" George asked.

"Apparently," Cris said with a shrug.

"**We'll be in the library, Cris."**** said Hermione firmly as she seized Ron above the elbow and dragged him off towards the marble staircase.**

"**So, we've been wanting to talk to you all break." Fred said. **

"**And you've been hiding from everyone." George said. Cris felt herself blushing and looked down to the ground. **

"**Sorry, I just didn't know how to feel after the whole possibly being possessed thing." Cris said. **

"**We know you're not." Fred said. **

"**So we were wondering if you've seen the notice for the next Hogsmeade weekend." George said. **

"**Oh, no, I haven't checked the noticeboard since I got back." **

**"****It's on Valentine's Day…" Fred said. **

"Ah, a perfect time for a first date." Lily said. Prongs shared a look with Padfoot and nodded he'll plan a perfect date on Valentine's Day.

"**Really?" she asked.**

"**Yep, and we were wondering if you would be willing to go with us?" George asked.**

"**Like a date? With the two of you?" Cris asked blushing brightly.**

"**Exactly," they said together.**

"**Alright," **

"**Excellent," they each kissed her and walked away leaving Cris with a big smile on her face.**

"Ah," the girls cooed.

**Cris headed to the library to pick up Ron and Hermione before their afternoon lessons, walking in a rather bouncy way herself.**

**By six o'clock that evening, however, even the glow of having been asked out Fred and George could not lighten the ominous feelings that intensified with every step Cris took towards Snape's office.**

**She paused outside the door when she reached it, wishing she were almost anywhere else, then, taking a deep breath, she knocked and entered.**

**The shadowy room was lined with shelves bearing hundreds of glass jars in which slimy bits of animals and plants were suspended in variously colored potions. In one corner stood the cupboard full of ingredients that Snape had once accused Cris - not without reason - of robbing.**

**Cris' attention was drawn towards the desk, however, where a shallow stone basin engraved with runes and symbols lay in a pool of candlelight. Cris recognized it at once - it was Dumbledore's Pensieve. **

"What's that doing there?" Ron asked.

"I'm sure it's there in case Cris managed to deflect Severus' attempts in getting into her mind." Remus said.

"I hope I'm able to." Cris said.

"Me too pup," Sirius said.

**Wondering what on earth it was doing there, she jumped when Snape's cold voice came out of the shadows.**

**"****Shut the door behind you, Potter."**

**Cris did as she was told, with the horrible feeling that she was imprisoning herself. When she turned back into the room, Snape had moved into the light and was pointing silently at the chair opposite his desk. Cris sat down and so did Snape, his cold black eyes fixed unblinkingly upon Cris, dislike etched in every line of his face.**

**"****Well, Potter, you know why you are here," he said. "The Headmaster has asked me to teach you Occlumency. I can only hope that you prove more adept at it than at Potions." **

"She's decent at it, she'll be better if you didn't breathe down their necks." Lily said.

"I hope he teaches her right." Prongs said.

"Me too," Padfoot said.

**"****Right," said Cris tersely.**

**"****This may not be an ordinary class, Potter," said Snape, his eyes narrowed malevolently, "but I am still your teacher and you will therefore call me 'sir' or 'professor' at all times."**

"You don't deserve it," Sirius muttered low enough so only Cris could hear.

**"****Yes… sir," said Cris.**

**Snape continued to survey her through narrowed eyes for a moment, then said, "Now, Occlumency. As I told you back in your dear godfather's kitchen, this branch of magic seals the mind against magical intrusion and influence."**

**"****And why does Professor Dumbledore think I need it, sir?" said Cris, looking directly into Snape's eyes and wondering whether Snape would answer.**

**Snape looked back at her for a moment and then said contemptuously, "Surely even you could have worked that out by now, Potter? The Dark Lord is highly skilled at Legilimency -"**

**"****What's that? Sir?"**

**"****It is the ability to extract feelings and memories from another person's mind -"**

"So it's like mind reading." Gwen said.

"Kind of, but not exactly," Dumbledore said.

**"****He can read minds?" said Cris quickly, her worst fears confirmed.**

**"****You have no subtlety, Potter," said Snape, his dark eyes glittering. "You do not understand fine distinctions. It is one of the shortcomings that makes you such a lamentable potion-maker." **

"Severus!" McGonagall cried. "It's not bad to ask questions; in fact it's better than when she first came here."

**Snape paused for a moment, apparently to savor the pleasure of insulting Cris, before continuing.**

**"****Only Muggles talk of 'mind-reading'. The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and examined at leisure. Thoughts are not etched on the inside of skulls, to be perused by any invader. The mind is a complex and many-layered thing, Potter - or at least, most minds are." He smirked. "It is true, however, that those who have mastered Legilimency are able, under certain conditions, to delve into the minds of their victims and to interpret their findings correctly. The Dark Lord, for instance, almost always knows when somebody is lying to him. Only those skilled at Occlumency are able to shut down those feelings and memories that contradict the lie, and so can utter falsehoods in his presence without detection."**

"That's exactly what mind reading is. Can I call you Professor X from now on?" Gwen asked. Lily, Hermione, Cris and the future kids busted out laughing at this.

"Who's Professor X?" Ron asked.

"He's a fictional character from comics. He is a mutant who has the ability to read minds. He opened a school much like Hogwarts expect without the separate houses for students who have the mutant gene. When they get a handle on their powers they are able to join the team known as the X-Men or they can go into society and try and help the world." Cris said.

"You're a comic geek?" Hermione asked wide-eyed.

"Not really, it's just fun to read sometimes." Cris said.

"Anyway, now that we know mum loves Muggle superheroes can I continue?" James asked. Cris blushed and he continued reading.

**Whatever Snape said, Legilimency sounded like mind-reading to Cris, and she didn't like the sound of it at all.**

**"****So he could know what we're thinking right now? Sir?"**

**"****The Dark Lord is at a considerable distance and the walls and grounds of Hogwarts are guarded by many ancient spells and charms to ensure the bodily and mental safety of those who dwell within them," said Snape. "Time and space matter in magic, Potter. Eye contact is often essential to Legilimency."**

"Then how did I see into his mind last year or the attack this year?" Cris asked.

"I don't know pup, I hope we find out soon." Sirius said.

**"****Well then, why do I have to learn Occlumency?"**

**Snape eyed Cris, tracing his mouth with one long, thin finger as he did so.**

**"****The usual rules do not seem to apply with you, Potter. The curse that failed to kill you seems to have forged some kind of connection between you and the Dark Lord. The evidence suggests that at times, when your mind is most relaxed and vulnerable - when you are asleep, for instance - you are sharing the Dark Lord's thoughts and emotions. **

**The Headmaster thinks it inadvisable for this to continue. He wishes me to teach you how to close your mind to the Dark Lord."**

**Cris' heart was pumping fast again. None of this added up.**

**"****But why does Professor Dumbledore want to stop it?" she asked abruptly. "I don't like it much, but it's been useful, hasn't it? I mean… I saw that snake attack Mr. Weasley and if I hadn't, Professor Dumbledore wouldn't have been able to save him, would he? Sir?"**

"That is very true, it could be vital." Mrs. Weasley said.

"And he can't possess her from within her dorm room, I hope." Lily said.

"I'm sure it'll explain." Dumbledore said.

**Snape stared at Cris for a few moments, still tracing his mouth with his finger. **

**When he spoke again, it was slowly and deliberately, as though he weighed every word.**

**"****It appears that the Dark Lord has been unaware of the connection between you and himself until very recently. Up till now it seems that you have been experiencing his emotions, and sharing his thoughts, without his being any the wiser. However, the vision you had shortly before Christmas -"**

**"****The one with the snake and Mr. Weasley?"**

**"****Do not interrupt me, Potter," said Snape in a dangerous voice.**

"She was just clarifying." McGonagall said. She really didn't like where this was going.

**"As I was saying, the vision you had shortly before Christmas represented such a powerful incursion upon the Dark Lord's thoughts -"**

**"****I saw inside the snake's head, not his!"**

**"****I thought I just told you not to interrupt me, Potter?"**

**But Cris did not care if Snape was angry; at last she seemed to be getting to the bottom of this business; she had moved forwards in her chair so that, without realizing it, she was perched on the very edge, tense as though poised for flight.**

**"****How come I saw through the snake's eyes if it's Voldemort's thoughts I'm sharing?"**

**"****Do not say the Dark Lord's name!" spat Snape.**

**There was a nasty silence. They glared at each other across the Pensieve.**

**"****Professor Dumbledore says his name," said Cris quietly.**

**"****Dumbledore is an extremely powerful wizard," Snape muttered. "While he may feel secure enough to use the name… the rest of us…"**

"I didn't grow up with the fear, and it feels wrong calling him You-Know-Who or whatever people call him. Why should I fear a made-up name?" Cris asked.

"It's made up?" Amelia asked.

"Yeah, he used the letters in his given name to create Voldemort." Cris said.

"Really?" Fudge asked.

"Yes, in fact is name is Tom Marvolo Riddle." Cris said. James continued reading before anyone else could interrupt.

**He rubbed his left forearm, apparently unconsciously, on the spot where Cris knew the Dark Mark was burned into his skin.**

"Does it tingle whenever someone says his name?" Gwen asked.

"Not really," Snape said.

**"I just wanted to know," Cris began again, forcing her voice back to politeness, "why -"**

**"****You seem to have visited the snake's mind because that was where the Dark Lord was at that particular moment," snarled Snape. "He was possessing the snake at the time and so you dreamed you were inside it, too."**

"That makes sense." Remus said.

"I wish I could just be normal." Cris said.

"I know, we do too," Robin said.

**"****And Vol— he - realized I was there?"**

**"****It seems so," said Snape coolly.**

**"****How do you know?" said Cris urgently. "Is this just Professor Dumbledore guessing, or -?"**

**"****I told you," said Snape, rigid in his chair, his eyes slits, "to call me 'sir'."**

**"****Yes, sir," said Cris impatiently, "but how do you know -?"**

**"****It is enough that we know," said Snape repressively. **

"You should just tell her." Prongs said.

"I agree," Lily said.

**"The important point is that the Dark Lord is now aware that you are gaining access to his thoughts and feelings. He has also deduced that the process is likely to work in reverse; that is to say, he has realized that he might be able to access your thoughts and feelings in return -"**

**"****And he might try and make me do things?" asked Cris. "Sir?" she added hurriedly.**

**"****He might," said Snape, sounding cold and unconcerned. "Which brings us back to Occlumency." **

**Snape pulled out his wand from an inside pocket of his robes and Cris tensed in her chair, but Snape merely raised the wand to his temple and placed its tip into the greasy roots of his hair.**

**When he withdrew it, some silvery substance came away, stretching from temple to wand like a thick gossamer strand, which broke as he pulled the wand away from it and fell gracefully into the Pensieve, where it swirled silvery-white, neither gas nor liquid. Twice more, Snape raised the wand to his temple and deposited the silvery substance into the stone basin, then, without offering any explanation of his behavior, he picked up the Pensieve carefully, removed it to a shelf out of their way and returned to face Cris with his wand held at the ready.**

"So you're worried she might be able to do something?" Remus asked. Snape shrugged and James continued reading.

**"****Stand up and take out your wand, Potter."**

**Cris got to her feet, feeling nervous. They faced each other with the desk between them.**

**"You may use your wand to attempt to disarm me, or defend yourself in any other way you can think of," said Snape.**

**"And what are you going to do?" Cris asked, eyeing Snape's wand apprehensively.**

**"****I am about to attempt to break into your mind," said Snape softly. "We are going to see how well you resist. I have been told that you have already shown aptitude at resisting the Imperius Curse. You will find that similar powers are needed for this… brace yourself, now. Legilimens!" **

"You didn't tell her what to do!" Sirius yelled.

"In order for her to succeed to need to explain." Remus said.

**Snape had struck before Cris was ready, before she had even begun to summon any force of resistance. The office swam in front of her eyes and vanished; image after image was racing through her mind like a flickering film so vivid it blinded her to her surroundings.**

**She was five, watching Dudley riding a new red bicycle, and her heart was bursting with jealousy… she was nine, and Ripper the bulldog was chasing her up a tree and the Dursley's were laughing below on the lawn… **

Sirius gripped Cris tighter to him and James kept reading apprehensively.

**she was sitting under the Sorting Hat, and it was telling her she would do well in Slytherin… Hermione was lying in the hospital wing, her face covered with thick black hair… a hundred Dementors were closing in on her beside the dark lake… Fred Weasley was drawing nearer to her under the mistletoe…**

**"****No," said a voice inside Cris' head, as the memory of Fred and George drew nearer, "you're not watching that, you're not watching it, it's private –"**

**She felt a sharp pain in her knee. Snape's office had come back into view and she realized that she had fallen to the floor;**

"At least you got out of it." Remus said.

**one of her knees had collided painfully with the leg of Snape's desk. She looked up at Snape, who had lowered his wand and was rubbing his wrist. There was an angry welt there, like a scorch mark.**

**"****Did you mean to produce a Stinging Hex?" asked Snape coolly.**

**"****No," said Cris bitterly, getting up from the floor.**

"Good, he deserves it," George said.

**"****I thought not," said Snape, watching her closely. "You let me get in too far. You lost control."**

**"****Did you see everything I saw?" Cris asked, unsure whether she wanted to hear the answer.**

**"****Flashes of it," said Snape, his lip curling. "To whom did the dog belong?"**

**"****My Aunt Marge," Cris muttered, hating Snape.**

**"****Well, for a first attempt that was not as poor as it might have been," said Snape, raising his wand once more. **

**"****You managed to stop me eventually, though you wasted time and energy shouting. You must remain focused. Repel me with your brain and you will not need to resort to your wand." **

"Just explain, then she'll get somewhere with it." Remus said.

**"****I'm trying," said Cris angrily, "but you're not telling me how!"**

**"****Manners, Potter," said Snape dangerously. "Now, I want you to close your eyes."**

**Cris threw him a filthy look before doing as she was told. She did not like the idea of standing there with her eyes shut while Snape faced her, carrying a wand.**

**"****Clear your mind, Potter," said Snape's cold voice. "Let go of all emotion…"**

"Yeah, that's true, you need to relax, think of flying you seem to relax then." Sirius said.

"I'll try that," Cris said.

"Or if not, try gymnastics." Gwen said. Cris sent her a smile and James continued.

**But Cris' anger at Snape continued to pound through her veins like venom. Let go of her anger? She could as easily detach her legs…**

**"****You're not doing it, Potter… you will need more discipline than this… focus, now…"**

**Cris tried to empty her mind, tried not to think, or remember, or feel…**

**"****Let's go again… on the count of three… one - two - three -Legilimens!"**

**A great black dragon was rearing in front of her… her father and mother were waving at her out of an enchanted mirror… Cedric Diggory was lying on the ground with blank eyes staring at her…**

Cris closed her eyes and tried not to shake at the memory. Sirius feeling her stiffen held her closer whispering nonsense as he listened to Cris' oldest son read the chapter.

**"****NOOOOOOO!"**

**Cris was on her knees again, her face buried in her hands, her brain aching as though someone had been trying to pull it from her skull.**

**"****Get up!" said Snape sharply. "Get up! You are not trying, you are making no effort. You are allowing me access to memories you fear, handing me weapons!" **

"Then take the time to show her, you're not doing anything other than making her more susceptible." Sirius said.

"Severus, take the time to teach her, you saw how she learns, just tell her calmly what to do and she will succeed." Remus said.

**Cris stood up again, her heart thumping wildly as though she had really just seen Cedric dead in the graveyard. Snape looked paler than usual, and angrier, though not nearly as angry as Cris was.**

**"****I - am - making - an - effort," she said through clenched teeth.**

**"****I told you to empty yourself of emotion!"**

**"****Yeah? Well, I'm finding that hard at the moment," Cris snarled.**

"I'll teach you how to control them." Remus said.

"That might actually be a good thing." Cris said.

**"****Then you will find yourself easy prey for the Dark Lord!" said Snape savagely. "Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked so easily - weak people, in other words - they stand no chance against his powers! **

"She doesn't do those, yeah she has wallowed in some of the sad moments in her life but if you don't tell her how to relax, keep her emotions in check than she won't succeed, are you trying to make her fail?" Remus asked.

"Maybe he's just taking her defenses down so Voldemort can get in easier." Sirius snarled.

"Severus wouldn't do that, Sirius." Dumbledore said calmly though he was unhappy on how this first lesson was going.

**He will penetrate your mind with absurd ease, Potter!"**

**"****I am not weak," said Cris in a low voice, fury now pumping through her so that she thought she might attack Snape in a moment.**

**"****Then prove it! Master yourself!" spat Snape. "Control your anger, discipline your mind! We shall try again! Get ready, now! Legilimens!"**

**She was watching Uncle Vernon hammering the letterbox shut… a hundred Dementors were drifting across the lake in the grounds towards her… she was running along a windowless passage with Mr. Weasley… they were drawing nearer to the plain black door at the end of the corridor… Cris expected to go through it… but Mr. Weasley led her off to the left, down a flight of stone steps…**

**"****I KNOW! I KNOW!"**

"Know what?" the group asked.

"I don't know," Cris said slightly confused.

**She was on all fours again on Snape's office floor, her scar was prickling unpleasantly, but the voice that had just issued from her mouth was triumphant. She pushed herself up again to find Snape staring at her, his wand raised. It looked as though, this time, Snape had lifted the spell before Cris had even tried to fight back.**

**"****What happened then, Potter?" he asked, eyeing Cris intently.**

**"****I saw - I remembered," Cris panted. "I've just realized…"**

**"****Realized what?" asked Snape sharply.**

**Cris did not answer at once; she was still savoring the moment of blinding realization as she rubbed her forehead…**

**She had been dreaming about a windowless corridor ending in a locked door for months, without once realizing that it was a real place. Now, seeing the memory again, she knew that all along she had been dreaming about the corridor down which she had run with Mr. Weasley on the twelfth of August as they hurried to the courtrooms in the Ministry; it was the corridor leading to the Department of Mysteries and Mr. Weasley had been there the night that he had been attacked by Voldemort's snake. **

"Great, she is putting it together now." Tonks whispered.

"Well, she'd make a great Auror." Kingsley whispered.

**She looked up at Snape.**

**"****What's in the Department of Mysteries?"**

**"****What did you say?" Snape asked quietly and Cris saw, with deep satisfaction, that Snape was unnerved.**

The Order members looked at each other; of course she would realize something is in the Department of Mysteries.

**"****I said, what's in the Department of Mysteries, sir?" Cris said.**

**"****And why," said Snape slowly, "would you ask such a thing?"**

**"****Because" said Cris, watching Snape's face closely, "that corridor I've just seen - I've been dreaming about it for months — I've just recognized it - it leads to the Department of Mysteries… and I think Voldemort wants something from —"**

The Order members shifted uncomfortably in their seats and Moody just smirks.

"I bet the Auror's are glad you are on their side." Moody said.

"They are," Keiran said.

**"****I have told you not to say the Dark Lord's name!"**

**They glared at each other. Cris' scar seared again, but she did not care. Snape looked agitated; but when he spoke again he sounded as though he was trying to appear cool and unconcerned.**

**"****There are many things in the Department of Mysteries, Potter, few of which you would understand and none of which concern you.**

The Order members glanced at him and thought liar at the same time but hoped it would be enough for Cris to let it go.

**Do I make myself plain?"**

**"****Yes," Cris said, still rubbing her prickling scar, which was becoming more painful.**

**"****I want you back here same time on Wednesday. We will continue work then."**

**"****Fine," said Cris. She was desperate to get out of Snape's office and find Ron and Hermione.**

**"You are to rid your mind of all emotion every night before sleep; empty it, make it blank and calm, you understand?"**

"I'd like to see that," Ron said with a smirk.

"I'd like to see you calm if you have a madman after you." Cris said.

"Good point," Sirius said.

**"****Yes," said Cris, who was barely listening.**

**"****And be warned, Potter… I shall know if you have not practiced"**

**"****Right," Cris mumbled. She picked up her schoolbag, swung it over her shoulder and hurried towards the office door. As she opened it, she glanced back at Snape, who had his back to Cris and was scooping his own thoughts out of the Pensieve with the tip of his wand and replacing them carefully inside his own head. Cris left without another word, closing the door carefully behind her, her scar still throbbing painfully.**

**Cris found Ron and Hermione in the library, where they were working on Umbridge's most recent ream of homework.**

"What is it? Reading the book?" Sirius asked.

"Probably," Ron said.

**Other students, nearly all of them fifth-years, sat at lamp-lit tables nearby, noses close to books, quills scratching feverishly, while the sky outside the mullioned windows grew steadily blacker. The only other sound was the slight squeaking of one of Madam Pince's shoes, as the librarian prowled the aisles menacingly, breathing down the necks of those touching her precious books.**

"Alright, she needs to calm down." Gwen said.

**Cris felt shivery; her scar was still aching, she felt almost feverish.**

**When she sat down opposite Ron and Hermione, she caught sight of herself in the window opposite; she was very white and her scar seemed to be showing up more clearly than usual.**

**"****How did it go?" Hermione whispered, and then, looking concerned. "Are you all right, Cris?"**

**"****Yeah… fine… I dunno," said Cris impatiently, wincing as pain shot through her scar again. "Listen… I've just realized something"**

**And she told them what she had just seen and deduced.**

**"****So… so are you saying…" whispered Ron, as Madam Pince swept past, squeaking slightly, "that the weapon - the thing You-Know-Who's after — is in the Ministry of Magic?" **

"What is it?" Amelia asked.

"I'm sure it'll tell you Madame Bones," Dumbledore said.

"I hope so," Amelia said. She didn't like the idea that a weapon was hidden in the Department of Mysteries.

**"****In the Department of Mysteries, it's got to be," Cris whispered. "I saw that door when your dad took me down to the courtrooms for my hearing and it's definitely the same one he was guarding when the snake bit him."**

**Hermione let out a long, slow sigh.**

**"****Of course," she breathed.**

**"****Of course what?" said Ron rather impatiently.**

**"****Ron, think about it… Sturgis Podmore was trying to get through a door at the Ministry of Magic… it must have been that one, it's too much of a coincidence!"**

**"****How come Sturgis was trying to break in when he's on our side?" said Ron.**

"He may have been under the Imperius Curse." Teddy said.

"That could be true," Tonks said.

**"****Well, I don't know," Hermione admitted. "That is a bit odd…"**

**"****So what's in the Department of Mysteries?" Cris asked Ron. "Has your dad ever mentioned anything about it?"**

**"****I know they call the people who work in there 'Unspeakables'," said Ron, frowning. "Because no one really seems to know what they do - **

"They are Unspeakables for a reason." Kingsley said.

**weird place to have a weapon."**

**"****It's not weird at all, it makes perfect sense," said Hermione. "It will be something top secret that the Ministry has been developing, I expect… **

"Nope, not quite it." Remus muttered.

**Cris, are you sure you're all right?"**

**For Cris had just run both her hands hard over her forehead as though trying to iron it.**

**"****Yeah… fine…" she said, lowering her hands, which were trembling. "I just feel a bit… I don't like Occlumency much."**

**"****I expect anyone would feel shaky if they'd had their mind attacked over and over again," said Hermione sympathetically. "Look, let's get back to the common room; we'll be a bit more comfortable there."**

**But the common room was packed and full of shrieks of laughter and excitement; Fred and George were demonstrating their latest bit of joke shop merchandise.**

**"Headless Hats!" shouted George, as Fred waved a pointed hat decorated with a fluffy pink feather at the watching students. "Two Galleons each, watch Fred, now!"**

**Fred swept the hat on to his head, beaming. For a second he merely looked rather stupid; then both hat and head vanished.**

"That's awesome!" the marauders shouted.

**Several girls screamed, but everyone else was roaring with laughter.**

**"****And off again!" shouted George, and Fred's hand groped for a moment in what seemed to be thin air over his shoulder; then his head reappeared as he swept the pink-feathered hat from it.**

**"How do those hats work, then?" said Hermione, distracted from her homework and watching Fred and George closely. "I mean, obviously it's some kind of Invisibility Spell, but it's rather clever to have extended the field of invisibility beyond the boundaries of the charmed object… I'd imagine the charm wouldn't have a very long life though."**

"It might last for a couple of weeks." Fred said.

"That's still super cool though." Gwen said.

**Cris did not answer; she was feeling ill.**

**"****I'm going to have to do this tomorrow," she muttered, pushing the books she had just taken out of his bag back inside it.**

**"****Well, write it in your homework planner then!" said Hermione encouragingly. "So you don't forget!"**

**Cris and Ron exchanged looks as she reached into her bag, withdrew the planner and opened it tentatively.**

**"****Don't leave it till later, you big second-rater!" chided the book as Cris scribbled down Umbridge's homework. Hermione beamed at it.**

**"****I think I'll go to bed," said Cris, stuffing the homework planner back into her bag and making a mental note to drop it in the fire the first opportunity she got. **

"Cris!" Hermione shouted.

"I haven't done it yet!" Cris cried.

"Sorry," Hermione said.

**She walked across the common room, dodging George, who tried to put a Headless Hat on her, and reached the peace and cool of the stone staircase to the boys' dormitories. She was feeling sick again, just as she had the night s had had the vision of the snake, but thought that if she could just lie down for a while she would be all right.**

**She opened the door of her dormitory and was one step inside it when she experienced pain so severe she thought that someone must have sliced into the top of her head. She did not know where she was, whether she was standing or lying down, she did not even know her own name. **

**Maniacal laughter was ringing in her ears… she was happier than she had been in a very long time… jubilant, ecstatic, triumphant… a wonderful, wonderful thing had happened… **

"What's going on?" Cris asked wide-eyed.

"I think you're having them awake now." Sirius said.

"Great," Cris said.

**"****Cris? CRIS!"**

**Someone had hit her around the face. The insane laughter was punctuated with a cry of pain.**

**The happiness was draining out of her, but the laughter continued…**

**She opened her eyes and, as she did so, she became aware that the wild laughter was coming out of her own mouth. The moment she realized this, it died away; Cris lay panting on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, the scar on her forehead throbbing horribly. Ron was bending over her, looking very worried.**

**"****What happened?" he said.**

**"****I… dunno…" Cris gasped, sitting up again. "He's really happy… really happy…"**

**"****You-Know-Who is?"**

**"****Something good's happened," mumbled Cris. **

**She was shaking as badly as she had done after seeing the snake attack Mr. Weasley and felt very sick. "Something he's been hoping for."**

**The words came, just as they had back in the Gryffindor changing room, as though a stranger was speaking them through Cris' mouth, yet she knew they were true. She took deep breaths, willing herself not to vomit all over Ron.**

"Thanks for that Bolt," Ron said.

"You're welcome." Cris said.

**She was very glad that Dean and Seamus were not here to watch this time.**

**"****Hermione told me to come and check on you," said Ron in a low voice, helping Cris to her feet. "She says your Defenses will be low at the moment, after Snape's been fiddling around with your mind… still, I suppose it'll help in the long run, won't it?" He looked doubtfully at Cris as he helped her towards her bed. Cris nodded without any conviction and slumped back on her pillows, aching all over from having fallen to the floor so often that evening, her scar still prickling painfully. She could not help feeling that her first foray into Occlumency had weakened her mind's resistance rather than strengthening it, and she wondered, with a feeling of great trepidation, what had happened to make Lord Voldemort the happiest he had been in fourteen years.**

"Whatever it is, it's not good." Lily said.

"I don't want to know." Cris said.

"That's the chapter." James said. He handed it to Al who started the next chapter.


	27. Chapter 25: The Beetle at Bay

"**Chapter 25: The Beetle at Bay," **Al read.

"Does that have to do with Rita Skeeter?" Charlie asked.

"I hope not," the trio said.

"I wonder if the date will be in this chapter." Fred said.

"Maybe, I wonder what we did." George said.

"Let me read and you'll find out." Al said.

"Go on son," they said together.

**Cris' question was answered the very next morning. When Hermione's Daily Prophet arrived she smoothed it out, gazed for a moment at the front page and gave a yelp that caused everyone in the vicinity to stare at her.**

"Why don't I like the sound of this?" Sirius asked.

"If Voldemort's happy you know it'll be bad." Remus said.

"**What?" said Cris and Ron together.**

**For an answer she spread the newspaper on the table in front of them and pointed at ten black and- white photographs that filled the whole of the front page, nine showing wizards' faces and the tenth, a witch's. Some of the people in the photographs were silently jeering; others were tapping their fingers on the frame of their pictures, looking insolent. Each picture was captioned with a name and the crime for which the person had been sent to Azkaban.**

"A mass break-out." Tonks stated wide-eyed.

"That's not good." Amelia said.

**Antonin Dolohov, read the legend beneath a wizard with a long, pale, twisted face who was sneering up at Cris, convicted of the brutal murders of Gideon and Fabian Prewett.**

"No!" Mrs. Weasley and Alice shouted.

"I just hope Bellatrix isn't among them." Sirius muttered.

**Augustus Rookwood, said the caption beneath a pockmarked man with greasy hair who was leaning against the edge of his picture, looking bored, convicted of leaking Ministry of Magic secrets to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.**

**But Cris' eyes were drawn to the picture of the witch.**

Neville stiffened hoping it wasn't who he thought it was.

**Her face had leapt out at her the moment she had seen the page. She had long, dark hair that looked unkempt and straggly in the picture, though she had seen it sleek, thick and shining. She glared up at her through heavily lidded eyes, an arrogant, disdainful smile playing around her thin mouth. Like Sirius, she retained vestiges of great good looks, but something - perhaps Azkaban - had taken most of her beauty.**

**Bellatrix Lestrange, convicted of the torture and permanent incapacitation of Frank and Alice Longbottom.**

"Why her?" Neville asked through clenched teeth.

"I don't know, I'm sorry Uncle Neville," Lily J said. Neville nodded and Al continued.

**Hermione nudged Cris and pointed at the headline over the pictures, which Cris, concentrating on Bellatrix, had not yet read.**

**MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN**

"It is as we feared; the Dementor's have joined Voldemort's side." Dumbledore said.

**MINISTRY FEARS BLACK IS 'RALLYING POINT' FOR OLD DEATH EATERS**

"I am not a Death Eater!" Sirius cried.

"We know Sirius," the group said.

"Why would they follow me? They all hate me because I went against my families beliefs." Sirius said.

**"****Black?" said Cris loudly. "Not -?"**

**"****Shh!" whispered Hermione desperately. "Not so loud - just read it!"**

**The Ministry of Magic announced late last night that there has been a mass breakout from Azkaban.**

**Speaking to reporters in his private office, Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, confirmed that ten high-security prisoners escaped in the early hours of yesterday evening and that he has already informed the Muggle Prime Minister of the dangerous nature of these individuals.**

**"****We find ourselves, most unfortunately, in the same position we were two and a half years ago when the murderer Sirius Black escaped," said Fudge last night. "Nor do we think the two breakouts are unrelated. An escape of this magnitude suggests outside help, and we must remember that Black, as the first person ever to break out of Azkaban, would be ideally placed to help others follow in his footsteps. We think it likely that these individuals, who include Black's cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, have rallied around Black as their leader.**

"Yeah, right. She's tried to kill me on numerous occasions." Sirius said.

"Really?" Cris asked.

"It was during the first war." He said.

**We are, however, doing all we can to round up the criminals, and we beg the magical community to remain alert and cautious. On no account should any of these individuals be approached."**

**"****There you are, Cris," said Ron, looking awestruck. "That's why he was happy last night."**

**"****I don't believe this," snarled Cris, "Fudge is blaming the breakout on Sirius?" **

"I'm not surprised," Sirius said.

**"****What other options does he have?" said Hermione bitterly. "He can hardly say, 'everyone, Dumbledore warned me this might happen, the Azkaban guards have joined Lord Voldemort' - stop whimpering, Ron - 'now Voldemort's worst supporters have broken out, too.' I mean, he's spent a good six months telling everyone you and Dumbledore are liars, hasn't he?"**

**Hermione ripped open the newspaper and began to read the report inside while Cris looked around the Great Hall. She could not understand why her fellow students were not looking scared or at least discussing the terrible piece of news on the front page,**

"That's because not everybody would know." Sirius said.

"It can't imagine that happening, ever." Lily said.

"I don't like that they're out." Kit said.

**but very few of them took the newspaper every day like Hermione. There they all were, talking about homework and Quidditch and who knew what other rubbish, when outside these walls ten more Death Eaters had swollen Voldemort's ranks.**

**She glanced up at the staff table. It was a different story there:**

"Of course, the teachers would know what was happening." Remus said. Cris grinned sheepishly which made him laugh lightly.

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall were deep in conversation, both looking extremely grave. Professor Sprout had the Prophet propped against a bottle of ketchup and was reading the front page with such concentration that she was not noticing the gentle drip of egg yolk falling into her lap from her stationary spoon. Meanwhile, at the far end of the table, Professor Umbridge was tucking into a bowl of porridge. For once her pouchy toad's eyes were not sweeping the Great Hall looking for misbehaving students. She scowled as she gulped down her food and every now and then she shot a malevolent glance up the table to where Dumbledore and McGonagall were talking so intently.**

"I wonder what has her mad now." George said.

"Who knows," Fred said.

**"****Oh my -" said Hermione wonderingly, still staring at the newspaper.**

**"****What now?" said Cris quickly; she was feeling jumpy.**

**"****It's… horrible," said Hermione, looking shaken. She folded back page ten of the newspaper and handed it to Cris and Ron.**

**TRAGIC DEMISE OF MINISTRY OF MAGIC WORKER**

**St. Mungo's Hospital promised a full inquiry last night after Ministry of Magic worker Broderick Bode, 49, was discovered dead in his bed, strangled by a potted-plant. **

"I should have told them." Neville said.

"Don't worry, it won't happen this time." McGonagall said giving a small smile to the shy lion.

**Healers called to the scene were unable to revive Mr. Bode, who had been injured in a workplace accident some weeks prior to his death.**

**Healer Miriam Strout, who was in charge of Mr. Bode's ward at the time of the incident, has been suspended on full pay and was unavailable for comment yesterday, but a spokes wizard for the hospital said in a statement:**

**"****St. Mungo's deeply regrets the death of Mr. Bode, whose health was improving steadily prior to this tragic accident.**

"Then someone must have wanted him dead." Mr. Weasley said.

"I wonder who." Tonks said.

**"****We have strict guidelines on the decorations permitted on our wards but it appears that Healer Strout, busy over the Christmas period, overlooked the dangers of the plant on Mr. Bode's bedside table. As his speech and mobility improved, Healer Strout encouraged Mr. Bode to look after the plant himself, unaware that it was not an innocent Flitterbloom, but a cutting of Devil's Snare which, **

"They look nothing alike!" Alice and Neville shouted.

**when touched by the convalescent Mr. Bode, throttled him instantly.**

**"****St. Mungo's is as yet unable to account for the presence of the plant on the ward and asks any witch or wizard with information to come forward."**

**"****Bode…" said Ron. "Bode. It rings a bell…"**

**"****We saw him," Hermione whispered. "In St. Mungo's, remember? He was in the bed opposite Lockhart's, just lying there, staring at the ceiling. And we saw the Devil's Snare arrive. She - the Healer - said it was a Christmas present."**

**Cris looked back at the story. A feeling of horror was rising like bile in her throat.**

**"****How come we didn't recognize Devils Snare? We've seen it before… we could've stopped this from happening."**

"It's not either of your faults; you don't expect a plant like Devil's Snare in a pot." Remus said.

**"****Who expects Devils Snare to turn up in a hospital disguised as a pot plant?" said Ron sharply. "It's not our fault, whoever sent it to the bloke is to blame! They must be a real prat, why didn't they check what they were buying?"**

"Unless they wanted to kill him." Percy said.

**"****Oh, come on, Ron!" said Hermione shakily. "I don't think anyone could put Devils Snare in a pot and not realize it tries to kill whoever touches it? This - this was murder… a clever murder, as well… if the plant was sent anonymously, how's anyone ever going to find out who did it?"**

**Cris was not thinking about Devil's Snare. She was remembering taking the lift down to the ninth level of the Ministry on the day of her hearing and the sallow-faced man who had got in on the. Atrium level.**

**"****I met Bode," she said slowly. "I saw him at the Ministry with your dad."**

**Ron's mouth fell open.**

**"****I've heard Dad talk about him at home! He was an Unspeakable - he worked in the Department of Mysteries!"**

"That is not good," Tonks said.

"I hope he didn't tell anyone anything." Kingsley said.

**They looked at each other for a moment, then Hermione pulled the newspaper back towards her, closed it, glared for a moment at the pictures of the ten escaped Death Eaters on the front, then leapt to her feet.**

**"****Where are you going?" said Ron, startled.**

**"****To send a letter," said Hermione, swinging her bag on to her shoulder. "It… well, I don't know whether… but it's worth trying… and I'm the only one who can."**

"Who are you writing to?" Cris asked.

"I have no idea." Hermione said.

"I wonder who it is." Ginny said.

**"****I hate it when she does that," grumbled Ron, as he and Cris got up from the table and made their own, slower way out of the Great Hall. "Would it kill her to tell us what she's up to for once? **

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed. Ron blushed and Al continued reading with a smile.

**It'd take her about ten more seconds - hey, Hagrid!"**

**Hagrid was standing beside the doors into the Entrance Hall, waiting for a crowd of Ravenclaws to pass. He was still as heavily bruised as he had been on the day he had come back from his mission to the giants and there was a new cut right across the bridge of his nose. **

"What is hurting him?" Bill wondered.

"I hope we find out soon." Charlie said.

**"****All righ', you two?" he said, trying to muster a smile but managing only a kind of pained grimace.**

**"****Are you okay, Hagrid?" asked Cris, following him as he lumbered after the Ravenclaws.**

**"****Fine, fine," said Hagrid with a feeble assumption of airiness; he waved a hand and narrowly missed concussing a frightened-looking Professor Vector, who was passing. "Jus' busy, yeh know, usual stuff lessons ter prepare - couple o' salamanders got scale rot - an' I'm on probation," he mumbled.**

"What!" the group yelled.

"I'm not surprised really." Lily said.

"Yeah, Umbridge seems hell bent on getting rid of anyone loyal to Dumbledore." Kit said.

**"****You're on probation?" said Ron very loudly, so that many of the passing students looked around curiously.**

"Ron!" Cris and Hermione shouted.

"I know, I know," Ron said.

**"Sorry - I mean - you're on probation?" he whispered.**

**"****Yeah," said Hagrid. "S'no more'n I expected, ter tell yeh the truth. Yeh migh' not've picked up on it, bu' that inspection didn' go too well, yeh know… anyway," he sighed deeply. "Bes' go an' rub a bit more chilli powder on them salamanders or their tails'll be hangin' off 'em next. See yeh, Cris… Ron…"**

**He trudged away, out of the front doors and down the stone steps into the damp grounds. Cris watched him go, wondering how much more bad news she could stand.**

"I don't want to know," Cris said.

"I know pup," Sirius said.

**The fact that Hagrid was now on probation became common knowledge within the school over the next few days, but to Cris' indignation, hardly anybody appeared to be upset about it; indeed, some people, Draco Malfoy prominent among them, seemed positively gleeful.**

"I'm sorry," Draco said.

"It's okay, you're different now." Cris said.

**As for the freakish death of an obscure Department of Mysteries employee in St. Mungo's, Cris, Ron and Hermione seemed to be the only people who knew or cared.**

**There was only one topic of conversation in the corridors now: the ten escaped Death Eaters, whose story had finally filtered through the school from those few people who read the newspapers. Rumors were flying that some of the convicts had been spotted in Hogsmeade, that they were supposed to be hiding out in the Shrieking Shack and that they were going to break into Hogwarts, just as Sirius Black had once done. **

"But they don't want to break into Hogwarts like I did." Sirius said.

"No they don't, I bet they would be hiding out at either my house or the house at the beginning of the fourth book." Draco said.

"That is a good assumption." Dumbledore said.

**Those who came from wizarding families had grown up hearing the names of these Death Eaters spoken with almost as much fear as Voldemort's; the crimes they had committed during the days of Voldemort's reign of terror were legendary. There were relatives of their victims among the Hogwarts students, who now found themselves the unwilling objects of a gruesome sort of reflected fame as they walked the corridors: Susan Bones, whose uncle, aunt and cousins had all died at the hands of one of the ten, said miserably during Herbology that she now had a good idea what it felt like to be Cris.**

"It's only my brother David and his family that survived." Amelia said sadly.

**"****And I don't know how you stand it - it's horrible," she said bluntly, dumping far too much dragon manure on her tray of Screechsnap seedlings, causing them to wriggle and squeak in discomfort.**

**It was true that Cris was the subject of much renewed muttering and pointing in the corridors these days, yet she thought she detected a slight difference in the tone of the whisperers' voices. **

**They sounded curious rather than hostile now, and once or twice she was sure she overheard snatches of conversation that suggested that the speakers were not satisfied with the Prophets version of how and why ten Death Eaters had managed to break out of the Azkaban fortress. In their confusion and fear, these doubters now seemed to be turning to the only other explanation available to them: the one that Cris and Dumbledore had been expounding since the previous year. **

"It takes something this bad for them to actually realize it?" Tonks asked.

"Looks like," Gwen said.

"That's typical." Robin said.

**It was not only the students' mood that had changed. It was now quite common to come across two or three teachers conversing in low, urgent whispers in the corridors, breaking off their conversations the moment they saw students approaching.**

**"****They obviously can't talk freely in the staff room anymore," said Hermione in a low voice, as she, Cris and Ron passed Professors McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout huddled together outside the Charms classroom one day. "Not with Umbridge there."**

**"****Reckon they know anything new?" said Ron, gazing back over his shoulder at the three teachers. **

"Probably," the students said.

**"****If they do, we're not going to hear about it, are we?" said Cris angrily. "Not after Decree… what number are we on now?" For new notices had appeared on the house noticeboards the morning after news of the Azkaban breakout:**

**BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS**

**Teachers are hereby banned from giving students any information that is not strictly related to the subjects they are paid to teach.**

The pranksters in the room had big smiles on their faces.

"That means they can't tell us not to do anything." George said.

"So it's all the Minister's fault if the school gets destroyed by pranks." McGonagall said.

"It should seem so." Dumbledore said with a chuckle. Umbridge sat fuming at herself.

**The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-six.**

**Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor**

**This latest Decree had been the subject of a great number of jokes among the students. Lee Jordan had pointed out to Umbridge that by the terms of the new rule she was not allowed to tell Fred and George off for playing Exploding Snap in the back of the class.**

**"****Exploding Snap's got nothing to do with Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor! That's not information relating to your subject!"**

"Smart alec," Remus said with a smile.

"Though he does have a point." Fred said.

**When Cris next saw Lee, the back of his hand was bleeding rather badly. Cris recommended essence of Murtlap.**

"Does Lee have a scar?" George asked worried for his friend.

"The light has to hit it just right." Keiran said. The teachers and the two ministry officials glared at Umbridge and she sat back knowing that his won't end well for her.

**Cris had thought the breakout from Azkaban might have humbled Umbridge a little, that she might have been abashed at the catastrophe that had occurred right under the nose of her beloved Fudge. It seemed, however, to have only intensified her furious desire to bring every aspect of life at Hogwarts under her personal control. She seemed determined at the very least to achieve a sacking before long, and the only question was whether it would be Professor Trelawney or Hagrid who went first.**

**Every single Divination and Care of Magical Creatures lesson was now conducted in the presence of Umbridge and her clipboard. **

"That's just going to make it worse." Bill said.

**She lurked by the fire in the heavily perfumed tower room, interrupting Professor Trelawney's increasingly hysterical talks with difficult questions about ornithomancy and heptomology, insisting that she predicted students' answers before they gave them and demanding that she demonstrate her skill at the crystal ball, the tea leaves and the rune stones in turn. Cris thought Professor Trelawney might soon crack under the strain. **

**Several times she passed her in the corridors - in itself a very unusual occurrence as she generally remained in her tower room - muttering wildly to herself, wringing her hands and shooting terrified glances over her shoulder, and all the while giving off a powerful smell of cooking sherry. If she had not been so worried about Hagrid, she would have felt sorry for her - but if one of them was to be ousted from their job, there could be only one choice for Cris as to who should remain.**

**Unfortunately, Cris could not see that Hagrid was putting up a better show than Trelawney.**

"Whatever he did it won't work." Charlie said.

**Though he seemed to be following Hermione's advice and had shown them nothing more frightening than a Crup — a creature indistinguishable from a Jack Russell terrier except for its forked tail - since before Christmas, he too seemed to have lost his nerve. He was oddly distracted and jumpy during lessons, losing the thread of what he was saying to the class, answering questions wrongly, and all the time glancing anxiously at Umbridge. **

"Good grief, if she would just leave them alone the classes would be a lot better." Mrs. Weasley said.

**He was also more distant with Cris, Ron and Hermione than he had ever been before, and had expressly forbidden them to visit him after dark.**

**"****If she catches yeh, it'll be all of our necks on the line," he told them flatly, and with no desire to do anything that might jeopardize his job further they abstained from walking down to his hut in the evenings.**

"And you can't even use the cloak." Prongs said sadly.

"This is probably the worst year ever." Cris said.

"Agree with that," the other students said.

**It seemed to Cris that Umbridge was steadily depriving her of everything that made her life at Hogwarts worth living: visits to Hagrid's house, letters from Sirius, her Firebolt and Quidditch.**

Umbridge was grinning wickedly at that, glad she could do something to make the brats life even more miserable.

"I should have told you what the mirror was," Sirius said.

"Well, I know now so I will talk to you every day but you have to promise not to do something stupid." Cris said. Sirius pulled a face but grinned and nodded.

**She took her revenge the only way she could - by redoubling her efforts for the D.A..**

**Cris was pleased to see that all of them, even Zacharias Smith, had been spurred on to work harder than ever by the news that ten more Death Eaters were now on the loose, but in nobody was this improvement more pronounced than in Neville. **

"Hmm, I wonder how you did that." Ginny said.

"Me too," Neville said.

**The news of his parents' attackers' escape had wrought a strange and even slightly alarming change in him. He had not once mentioned his meeting with Cris, Ron and Hermione on the closed ward in St. Mungo's and, taking their lead from him, they had kept quiet about it too. Nor had he said anything on the subject of Bellatrix and her fellow torturers' escape. In fact, Neville barely spoke during the D.A. meetings anymore, but worked relentlessly on every new jinx and counter-curse Cris taught them, his plump face screwed up in concentration, apparently indifferent to injuries or accidents and working harder than anyone else in the room. He was improving so fast it was quite unnerving and when Cris taught them the Shield Charm - a means of deflecting minor jinxes so that they rebounded upon the attacker - only Hermione mastered the charm faster than Neville. **

"Good job Nev," Cris said with a big smile. Frank and Alice gave their son a big smile and Neville smiled back and he hoped that he could improve that much the next time.

**Cris would have given a great deal to be making as much progress at Occlumency as Neville was making during the D.A. meetings.**

"Not surprising considering who is teaching you." Padfoot said.

**Cris' sessions with Snape, which had started badly enough, were not improving. On the contrary Cris felt she was getting worse with every lesson.**

**Before she had started studying Occlumency, her scar had prickled occasionally, usually during the night, or else following one of those strange flashes of Voldemort's thoughts or mood that she experienced every now and then. Nowadays, however, her scar hardly ever stopped prickling, and she often felt lurches of annoyance or cheerfulness that were unrelated to what was happening to her at the time, which were always accompanied by a particularly painful twinge from her scar. She had the horrible impression that she was slowly turning into a kind of aerial that was tuned in to tiny fluctuations in Voldemort's mood, and she was sure she could date this increased sensitivity firmly from her first Occlumency lesson with Snape. What was more, she was now dreaming about walking down the corridor towards the entrance to the Department of Mysteries almost every night, dreams which always culminated in her standing longingly in front of the plain black door.**

"That's not supposed to happen." Sirius said.

"I'll teach you to relax and to keep control; you'd be surprised on how it comes in handy with being a werewolf." Remus said.

"I'd like that," Cris said. Remus smiled and nodded hoping that it'll help.

**"****Maybe it's a bit like an illness," said Hermione, looking concerned when Cris confided in her and Ron. "A fever or something. It has to get worse before it gets better." **

"I don't think it's like that." Remus said.

"So how do we go about closing it?" Cris asked.

"I don't know, cub, I don't know." Remus said sadly.

**"****The lessons with Snape are making it worse," said Cris flatly. "I'm getting sick of my scar hurting and I'm getting bored with walking down that corridor every night." She rubbed her forehead angrily. "I just wish the door would open, I'm sick of standing staring at it -" **

"You don't want that door to open." Robin said.

"Why not?" Cris asked.

"It means that Voldemort will get the weapon." Tonks said. Cris went wide-eyed and nodded in understanding.

**"****That's not funny," said Hermione sharply. "Dumbledore doesn't want you to have dreams about that corridor at all, or he wouldn't have asked Snape to teach you Occlumency. You're just going to have to work a bit harder in your lessons."**

**"****I am working!" said Cris nettled. "You try it sometime - Snape trying to get inside your head - it's not a bundle of laughs, you know!"**

**"****Maybe…" said Ron slowly.**

**"****Maybe what?" said Hermione, rather snappishly.**

**"****Maybe it's not Cris' fault she can't close her mind," said Ron darkly.**

**"****What do you mean?" said Hermione.**

**"Well, maybe Snape isn't really trying to help Cris…"**

"That is a good theory, but I don't think it's true." Remus said.

"Then why can't I do it?" Cris asked.

"You just need a better teacher is all." Hermione said.

"Yeah, you do great when you have someone actually explain it to you." Lily said. Cris nodded, that was probably the reason.

**Cris and Hermione stared at him. Ron looked darkly and meaningfully from one to the other.**

**"****Maybe," he said again, in a lower voice, "he's actually trying to open Cris' mind a bit wider… make it easier for You-Know —"**

**"****Shut up, Ron," said Hermione angrily. "How many times have you suspected Snape, and when have you ever been right? Dumbledore trusts him, he works for the Order, that ought to be enough."**

**"****He used to be a Death Eater," said Ron stubbornly. "And we've never seen proof that he really swapped sides."**

"I would like to see this proof as well." Sirius said.

"It's in the seventh book, dad." Keiran said. Sirius looked at him and nodded while Snape went wide-eyed.

**"****Dumbledore trusts him," Hermione repeated. "And if we can't trust Dumbledore, we can't trust anyone."**

**With so much to worry about and so much to do - startling amounts of homework that frequently kept the fifth-years working until past midnight, secret D.A. sessions and regular classes with Snape - January seemed to be passing alarmingly fast. Before Cris knew it, February had arrived, bringing with it wetter and warmer weather and the prospect of the second Hogsmeade visit of the year. Cris had had very little time to spare for conversations with Fred and George since they had agreed to visit the village together, but suddenly found herself facing a Valentine's Day spent entirely in their company.**

"Yeah, that could be terrifying." Charlie said with a smile.

"They make my day better most of time." Cris said with a shrug.

"Most of the time?" Fred asked looking sad. Cris just smiled but didn't say anything.

**On the morning of the fourteenth she dressed particularly carefully. She and Ron arrived at breakfast just in time for the arrival of the post owls. Hedwig was not there - not that Cris had expected her - but Hermione was tugging a letter from the beak of an unfamiliar brown owl as they sat down.**

**"****And about time! If it hadn't come today…" she said, eagerly tearing open the envelope and pulling out a small piece of parchment. Her eyes sped from left to right as she read through the message and a grimly pleased expression spread across her face.**

**"****Listen, Cris," she said, looking up at her, "this is really important. Do you think you could meet me in the Three Broomsticks around midday?"**

"Ah, you're cutting our date short." George whined.

"I don't think she said anything." Hermione said.

"I doesn't say that I told you guys." Cris said.

"Alright, you're forgiven this time." Fred said.

**"****Well… I dunno," said Cris uncertainly. "Fred and George might be expecting me to spend the whole day with them. We never said what we were going to do."**

**"****Well, bring her along if you must," said Hermione urgently. "But will you come?"**

**"****Well… all right, but why?"**

**"****I haven't got time to tell you now; I've got to answer this quickly."**

"I wonder what it is." George said.

"We'll come along." Fred said.

"I figured you guys might want to." Cris said.

**And she hurried out of the Great Hall, the letter clutched in one hand and a piece of toast in the other.**

**"****Are you coming?" Cris asked Ron, but he shook his head, looking glum.**

**"****I can't come into Hogsmeade at all; Angelina wants a full day's training. Like it's going to help; we're the worst team I've ever seen. You should see Sloper and Kirke, they're pathetic, even worse than I am." He heaved a great sigh. "I dunno why Angelina won't just let me resign." **

"Because you have the potential, just need to build up the confidence." Charlie said.

"Thanks," Ron said.

**"****It's because you're good when you're on form, that's why," said Cris irritably.**

**She found it very hard to be sympathetic to Ron's plight, when she herself would have given almost anything to be playing in the forthcoming match against Hufflepuff. Ron seemed to have noticed Cris' tone, because he did not mention Quidditch again during breakfast, and there was a slight frostiness in the way they said goodbye to each other shortly afterwards. **

**Ron departed for the Quidditch pitch and Cris, after pulling her hair into a ponytail while staring at her reflection in the back of a teaspoon, proceeded alone to the Entrance Hall to meet Fred and George, feeling very apprehensive and wondering what on earth they were going to talk about.**

"With them, who knows?" Bill said.

"Thanks," Cris said.

"We'll make sure she has a good time." Fred said.

**They were waiting for Cris to the side of the oak doors; they both looked handsome even with the mischievous look in their eyes. Cris couldn't help but feel giddy and couldn't help but smile when they saw her. **

"**Hi," she said breathlessly.**

"**Hello Crisy, you look pretty today." Fred said offering her his arm. She took it with a smile. **

"**We have a wonderful day planned." George said. "We overheard you and Hermione so don't worry we'll get you to the Three broomsticks in time." **

**Cris smiled as they joined the queue of people being signed out by Filch, occasionally catching other people's eye and grinning shiftily, but not talking to each other.**

**Cris was relieved when they reached the fresh air, finding it easier to walk along in silence than just stand about looking awkward. It was a fresh, breezy sort of a day and as they passed the Quidditch stadium Cris glimpsed Ron and Ginny skimming along over the stands and felt a horrible pang that she was not up there with them.**

"**Do you miss it as much as we do?" George asked. She looked up at him and noticed that he and Fred were looking at the pitch as well. **

"**Yeah, I do. I miss flying, it helps clear my head." Cris said. **

"**Enough with this depressing stuff, we have something special planned." Fred said. "You go and get it and we'll meet you at the spot." George smiled and went off. **

"What are you doing?" Bill asked.

"I think it's a picnic, I love picnics." Cris said.

"I don't know," Fred said.

"**So what is it?" Cris asked. Fred just smiled but didn't say anything as they went down the road. Cris was smiling as she tried to get Fred to tell her what they had planned but he wouldn't budge. She stopped midsentence as they passed a group of Slytherin's.**

"Great," muttered Cris and Fred.

"Why can't they just leave everything alone?" Ginny asked.

"I bet it's Pansy, she's so annoying." Draco said.

"**Potter and Weasley!" screeched Pansy, to a chorus of snide giggles. "Urgh, Potter, I don't like you're tastes at all, first Finnegan now Weasley." **

"Wow, she's stupid." Gwen said.

"Seamus is good looking, but he's more of a friend than anything else." Cris said.

"Good," Fred and George said.

**The girls sped up, talking and shrieking in a pointed fashion with many exaggerated glances back at Cris and Fred. Fred just smiled and waved and pulled Cris in for a kiss. **

"**Don't let what they say get to you Crisy." Fred said.**

"**I don't, they're just jealous of my good looks." Cris said flipping the ponytail and gave a smirk. Fred smiled and laughed and they walked up the road. **

"I love it!" Prongs shouted.

"You are definitely your father's daughter." Sirius said.

"I don't know, that is something Lily would say as well." Remus said. Cris just smiled at her parents and they smiled back at her.

"**So, please tell me we aren't going to Madame Puddifoot's." Cris said giving Fred a pleading look.**

"**We aren't," Fred said. **

"Good, that place is so weird." Cris said.

"You've never been there." Lily said.

"No, but I've walked past it and I told myself I would never go in there." Cris said.

"It's not that bad." Lily said. People gave her a look and she sighed in defeat. "Alright, it is bad."

**"****Oh… I don't mind," said Cho, shrugging. "Urn… shall we just have a look in the shops or something?"**

**They wandered towards Dervish and Banges. **

**A large poster had been stuck up in the window and a few Hogsmeaders were looking at it. They moved aside when Cris and Fred approached and Cris found herself staring once more at the pictures of the ten escaped Death Eaters. The poster, By Order of the Ministry of Magic, offered a thousand-Galleon reward to any witch or wizard with information leading to the recapture of any of the convicts pictured. **

"**It's weird, when Sirius escaped there were dementors everywhere looking for him but now with ten escaped Death Eater's there's none in sight." Fred whispered. **

"**I know, it is weird, maybe they have sided with Voldemort." Cris said. **

"**Wouldn't surprise me," a voice said behind them. They turned to see George standing there with a bag slung over his shoulder. **

"**There you are," Cris said giving George a hug as well. **

"**Are we ready?" Fred asked with a mischievous grin that Cris knew meant that they were up to no good. **

"It's a prank date?" Cris asked.

"Probably," George said.

"That sounds like so much fun!" Cris exclaimed.

"And when I thought she didn't do pranks." Lily said shaking her head. "It's all your fault!" she shrieked at Prongs.

"Yes Lils," Prongs said.

"**So what are we doing?" Cris asked. **

"**Persistent aren't we?" Fred asked. **

"**We thought we do something different for a date. How do you feel about pranking someone?" George asked. Cris lit up, this should be fun. **

"**Alright so here's what we do." Fred said. They explained the plan to her; they were going to prank the people in Madame Puddifoot's. **

"Oh, my god." Padfoot said.

"That's brilliant." Prongs said.

**They walked down to the girlie teashop and they off to the side and looked inside through the windows. **

"**So here's the plan, Cris, you and George go inside and play all lovey dovey and I'll sneak in after you. Distract them however you deem fit and I'll set the prank." Fred said. Cris nodded and George offered her his arm and they walked inside the shop. Cris surveyed the shop and noticed that nobody really noticed them walk in. **

"**We don't really need a distraction, they are distracting themselves." Cris said. **

"**Right," George said. He signaled for Fred and he came in. He set up something with his wand and did whatever he was planning. The three left and went back to their hiding spot and watched what happens. Soon one by one as each person went for the sugar bowl it turned to confetti and sprayed everyone with it. **

"That's awesome!" cried the pranksters.

"Definitely a good prank." James said.

**Cris checked her watch to see it was about time to meet Hermione at the Three Broomsticks. **

"**Fred, George, I need to go and meet Hermione." Cris said. They checked their watches simultaneously and looked back at Cris with smiles on their faces. **

"**So it is dear Bambi," George said. Cris looked up at him again.**

"**We know about the Marauders." Fred whispered.**

"**Why didn't you tell us?" George asked looking hurt. **

The group laughed at the situation Cris was in as she pouted.

"**Sorry, I didn't know how to tell you." Cris said lamely as they walked back up the road to the Three Broomsticks. **

"**Alright, we forgive you," **

"**Just this once." Cris rolled her eyes but Fred kissed her again and the butterflies were back in her stomach. **

"Ahhh," cooed the women. Cris blushed brightly at that and Sirius laughed holding her tighter to him.

**It started raining hard now and they hurried up the street and Cris knew she was probably early for their meeting. They got to the Three Broomsticks and shook their wet hair out of their eyes. George went and got them some Butterbeers as Fred and Cris found a seat. Cris looked around to see if she could spot Hermione but instead she spotted Hagrid in the corner looking morose.**

"Poor Hagrid," Charlie said.

**Cris grabbed Fred's hand and pulled him over to Hagrid. "Hi Hagrid," she said as she and Fred pulled up chairs around the table.**

**Hagrid jumped and looked down at Cris as though he barely recognized her. Cris saw that he had two fresh cuts on his face and several new bruises.**

"Okay, what the bloody hell is Hagrid doing that is making him this hurt?" Padfoot asked.

"Underground fighting ring?" Gwen suggested.

"I don't think it's that Gwen." Cris said with a smile.

**"****Oh, it's yeh, Cris," said Hagrid. "Yeh all right?"**

**"****Yeah, I'm fine," said Cris. "Er - are you okay?"**

**"****Me?" said Hagrid. "Oh yeah, I'm grand, Cris, grand."**

**He gazed into the depths of his pewter tankard, which was the size of a large bucket, and sighed. Cris shared a look with Fred as George came over with their drinks.**

**Cris didn't know what to say to him. They sat side by side in silence for a moment. Then Hagrid said abruptly, "In the same boat, yeh an' me, aren' we, Cris?"**

"Wait, what?" Lily asked.

"I have no idea." Cris said.

**"****Er -" said Cris. She looked over at Fred and George who were as equally confused as she was.**

**"****Yeah… I've said it before… both outsiders, like," said Hagrid, nodding wisely. "An' both orphans. Yeah… both orphans."**

"Why is he bringing that up now?" Prongs asked darkly.

"I have no idea, he might just be drunk." Cris said.

"I hope it's just that." Lily said.

**He took a great swig from his tankard.**

**"****Makes a diff'rence, havin' a decent family," he said. "Me dad was decent. An' your mum an' dad were decent. If they'd lived, life woulda bin diff'rent, eh?"**

**"****Yeah… I s'pose," said Cris cautiously. Hagrid seemed to be in a very strange mood.**

**"****Family," said Hagrid gloomily. "Whatever yeh say, blood's important…"**

"That's not like him; he usually doesn't talk about family." Charlie said.

"I hope he's okay." Cris said.

"Me too, pup." Sirius said.

**And he wiped a trickle of it out of his eye.**

**"****Hagrid," said Cris, unable to stop herself, "where are you getting all these injuries?"**

**"****Eh?" said Hagrid, looking startled. "Wha' injuries?"**

**"****All those!" said Cris, pointing at Hagrid's face.**

**"****Oh… tha's jus' normal bumps an' bruises, Cris," said Hagrid dismissively, "I got a rough job."**

"But not that rough." Teddy said.

"Yeah, Uncle Charlie does it well without getting hurt a lot." Lily J said.

"That's good to know." Charlie said.

**He drained his tankard, set it back on the table and got to his feet.**

**"****I'll be seein' yeh, Cris… take care now."**

**And he lumbered out of the pub looking wretched, and disappeared into the torrential rain. Cris watched him go, feeling miserable. Hagrid was unhappy and he was hiding something, but he seemed determined not to accept help. What was going on? But before Cris could think about it any further, she heard a voice calling her name.**

**"****Cris! Cris, over here!"**

**Hermione was waving at her from the other side of the room. She got up and made her way towards her through the crowded pub with a puzzled Fred and George behind her. She was still a few tables away when she realized that Hermione was not alone. She was sitting at a table with the unlikeliest pair of drinking mates she could ever have imagined: Luna Lovegood**

"That's not too strange." Hermione said.

"Wait Aunt Mione there's another one." Al said.

**and none other than Rita Skeeter,**

"Oh, I know what I'm doing now." Hermione said. Cris had a look of understanding as well.

"What, because I sure don't." Ron said.

"You'll wait and see like everyone else." Hermione said.

"Mia, it's brilliant." Cris said with a big smile.

"What is?" Fred and George asked.

"You'll see," Cris and Hermione said. They pouted and Al continued to read.

**ex-journalist on the Daily Prophet and one of Hermione's least favorite people in the world.**

**"****You're early!" said Hermione, moving along to give her room to sit down. "Fred, George you can stay if you want. How was the date?"**

**"Fred and George?" said Rita at once, twisting round in her seat to stare avidly at Cris. "Boyfriend perhaps?"**

"That is none of your business." Remus said.

"Why is she there?" Padfoot asked.

"You'll see," Hermione said sweetly.

**She snatched up her crocodile-skin handbag and groped within it.**

**"****It's none of your business if Cris' been with a hundred boys," Hermione told Rita coolly. "So you can put that away right now."**

**Rita had been on the point of withdrawing an acid-green quill from her bag. Looking as though she had been forced to swallow Stinksap, she snapped her bag shut again.**

**"****What are you up to?" Cris asked, sitting down and staring from Rita to Luna to Hermione.**

**"****Little Miss Perfect was just about to tell me when you arrived," said Rita, taking a large slurp of her drink. "I suppose I'm allowed to talk to her, am I?" she shot at Hermione.**

**"****Yes, I suppose you are," said Hermione coldly.**

**Unemployment did not suit Rita. **

"Good," said most of the room.

**The hair that had once been set in elaborate curls now hung lank and unkempt around her face. The scarlet paint on her two-inch talons was chipped and there were a couple of false jewels missing from her winged glasses. She took another great gulp of her drink and said out of the corner of her mouth, "They are pretty good looking, Cris." As she looked Fred and George up and down. They shifted uncomfortably under her gaze but stayed where they were. **

"Hey, only family can tease her about boys." Sirius said. Cris blushed brightly at that as she felt Sirius laughing behind her.

**"One more word about Cris' love life and the deal's off and that's a promise," said Hermione irritably.**

"What deal?" the room asked.

**"What deal?" said Rita, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. "You haven't mentioned a deal yet, Miss Prissy, you just told me to turn up. Oh, one of these days…" She took a deep shuddering breath.**

**"Yes, yes, one of these days you'll write more horrible stories about Cris and me," said Hermione indifferently. "Find someone who cares, why don't you?"**

**"They've run plenty of horrible stories about Cris this year without my help," said Rita, shooting a sideways look at her over the top of her glass and adding in a rough whisper, "How has that made you feel, Cris? Betrayed? Distraught? Misunderstood?"**

**"She feels angry, of course," said Hermione in a hard, clear voice. "Because she's told the Minister for Magic the truth and the Minister's too much of an idiot to believe her." **

"**Here, here," Fred and George said lifting up their butterbeers. **

"Our sentiments exactly." The twins said again.

**"So you actually stick to it, do you, that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back?" said Rita, lowering her glass and subjecting Cris to a piercing stare while her finger strayed longingly to the clasp of the crocodile bag. "You stand by all this garbage Dumbledore's been telling everybody about You-Know-Who returning and you being the sole witness?"**

**"I wasn't the sole witness," snarled Cris. "There were a dozen-odd Death Eaters there as well. Want their names?"**

"I hope she gets them right." Bill said.

"Me too," Cris said.

**"I'd love them," breathed Rita, now fumbling in her bag once more and gazing at her as though she was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. "A great bold headline: 'Potter Accuses… ' A sub-heading, Cristal Potter Names Death Eaters Still Among Us'. And then, beneath a nice big photograph of you, 'Disturbed teenage survivor of You-Know-Who's attack, Cristal Potter, 15, caused outrage yesterday by accusing respectable and prominent members of the wizarding community of being Death Eaters… '"**

"Get rid of the disturbed and it's fine." Sirius growled.

**The Quick-Quotes Quill was actually in her hand and halfway to her mouth when the rapturous expression on her face died.**

**"But of course," she said, lowering the quill and looking daggers at Hermione, "Little Miss Perfect wouldn't want that story out there, would she?"**

**"As a matter of fact," said Hermione sweetly, "that's exactly what Little Miss Perfect does want."**

**Rita stared at her. So did Cris. Luna, on the other hand, sang 'Weasley is our King' dreamily under her breath and stirred her drink with a cocktail onion on a stick. **

"Why are you humming that?" Ron asked.

"It's catchy." Luna said.

"Sorry," Draco said.

**"You want me to report what she says about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" Rita asked Hermione in a hushed voice.**

**"Yes, I do," said Hermione. "The true story. All the facts. Exactly as Cris reports them. She'll give you all the details, she'll tell you the names of the undiscovered Death Eaters she saw there, she'll tell you what Voldemort looks like now - oh, get a grip on yourself," she added contemptuously, throwing a napkin across the table, for, at the sound of Voldemort's name, Rita had jumped so badly she had slopped half her glass of Firewhisky down herself.**

**Rita blotted the front of her grubby raincoat, still staring at Hermione. Then she said baldly, "The Prophet wouldn't print it. In case you haven't noticed, nobody believes her cock-and-bull story. Everyone thinks she's delusional. Now, if you let me write the story from that angle -" **

"I won't let her, if she wants a story she'll write it truthfully." Hermione said.

"Good for you," Gwen said. "That's how reporting should be, not building up on lies, that won't end well at all."

"No kidding, once it gets out Fudge will be gone from office." Cris said. Fudge's eyes went wide as the truth of that statement hit him; his days in office were numbered.

**"We don't need another story about how Cris' lost her marbles!" said Hermione angrily. "We've had plenty of those already, thank you! I want her given the opportunity to tell the truth!"**

**"There's no market for a story like that," said Rita coldly.**

"Oh, I know why I'm there now." Luna said.

"Why?" Draco asked.

"You'll see." Luna said dreamily.

**"You mean the Prophet won't print it because Fudge won't let them," said Hermione irritably.**

"That about sums it up." Tonks said.

"The government can't control the paper, that's not right." Gwen said.

"But that's what is going on." Bill said.

**Rita gave Hermione a long, hard look. Then, leaning forwards across the table towards her, she said in a businesslike tone, "All right, Fudge is leaning on the Prophet, but it comes to the same thing. They won't print a story that shows Cris in a good light. Nobody wants to read it. It's against the public mood. This last Azkaban breakout has got people quite worried enough. People just don't want to believe You-Know-Who's back."**

"Well he is and there are signs everywhere if you know where to look." Lily said.

"Jailbreak is a big clue." Prongs said.

**"So the Daily Prophet exists to tell people what they want to hear, does it?" said Hermione scathingly.**

**Rita sat up straight again, her eyebrows raised, and drained her glass of Firewhisky.**

**"My dad thinks it's an awful paper," said Luna, chipping into the conversation unexpectedly.**

**Sucking on her cocktail onion, she gazed at Rita with her enormous, protuberant, slightly mad eyes. "He publishes important stories he thinks the public needs to know. He doesn't care about making money."**

"That makes a good reporter. That's what Adam wants to do." Gwen said.

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me." Cris said.

**Rita looked disparagingly at Luna.**

**"I'm guessing your father runs some stupid little village newsletter?" she said. "Probably, Twenty- Five Ways to Mingle With Muggles and the dates of the next Bring and Fly Sale?"**

**"No," said Luna, dipping her onion back into her Gillywater, "he's the editor of The Quibbler."**

**Rita snorted so loudly that people at a nearby table looked round in alarm.**

**"'Important stories he thinks the public needs to know', eh? " she said witheringly. "I could manure my garden with the contents of that rag."**

"It's actually really popular in the future; it almost put the Prophet out of business." Keiran said.

"Really, Daddy will be thrilled." Luna said.

**"Well, this is your chance to raise the tone of it a bit, isn't it?" said Hermione pleasantly. "Luna says her father's quite happy to take Cris' interview. That's who'll be publishing it."**

**Rita stared at them both for a moment, then let out a great whoop of laughter.**

**"The Quibbler!" she said, cackling. "You think people will take her seriously if she's published in The Quibbler!"**

"You'd be surprised." Bill said.

"I wonder how many people will read it." Cris said.

**"Some people won't," said Hermione in a level voice. "But the Daily Prophet's version of the Azkaban breakout had some gaping holes in it. I think a lot of people will be wondering whether there isn't a better explanation of what happened, and if there's an alternative story available, even if it is published in a -" she glanced sideways at Luna, "in a - well, an unusual magazine - I think they might be rather keen to read it."**

**Rita didn't say anything for a while, but eyed Hermione shrewdly, her head a little to one side.**

**"All right, let's say for a moment I'll do it," she said abruptly. "What kind of fee am I going to get?"**

**"I don't think Daddy exactly pays people to write for the magazine," said Luna dreamily. "They do it because it's an honor and, of course, to see their names in print."**

"I wonder which is more important to the bug." Charlie said.

**Rita Skeeter looked as though the taste of Stinksap was strong in her mouth again as she rounded on Hermione.**

**"I'm supposed to do this for free?"**

**"Well, yes," said Hermione calmly, taking a sip of her drink. "Otherwise, as you very well know, I will inform the authorities that you are an unregistered Animagus. Of course, the Prophet might give you rather a lot for an insider's account of life in Azkaban."**

"More blackmail, I love it." Padfoot said.

"You'd make an excellent prankster." Prongs said.

**Rita looked as though she would have liked nothing better than to seize the paper umbrella sticking out of Hermione's drink and thrust it up her nose.**

**"I don't suppose I've got any choice, have I?" said Rita, her voice shaking slightly. She opened her crocodile bag once more, withdrew a piece of parchment, and raised her Quick-Quotes Quill.**

**"Daddy will be pleased," said Luna brightly. A muscle twitched in Rita's jaw.**

**"Okay, Cris?" said Hermione, turning to him. "Ready to tell the public the truth?"**

**"I suppose," said Cris, watching Rita balancing the Quick-Quotes Quill at the ready on the parchment between them.**

**"Fire away, then, Rita," said Hermione serenely, fishing a cherry out from the bottom of her glass.**

"That's the chapter." Al said.

"I don't think Umbridge will be pleased." Sirius said with a laugh. Al handed the book to Hermione.


	28. Chapter 26: Seen and Unforeseen

"**Chapter 26: Seen and Unforeseen,"** Hermione read.

"What?" Padfoot asked.

"It might have something to do with Trelawney." Bill said.

"I wonder what." Cris said.

**Luna said vaguely that she did not know how soon Rita's interview with Cris would appear in The Quibbler, that her father was expecting a "'lovely long article on recent sightings of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks,'"- "and of course, that'll be a very important story, so Cris' might have to wait for the following issue," said Luna.**

"I wonder how many people will want to read it." Cris said.

"You'll be surprised." Sirius said.

**Cris had not found it an easy experience to talk about the night when Voldemort had returned.**

"Which I'm sure you left out a bunch of stuff." Hermione said.

"How did the book tell you?" Cris asked.

"A lot, I think the whole thing in the graveyard." Ron said.

"Everything?" Cris asked wide eyed. They nodded and Sirius held her tighter comforting her.

**Rita had pressed her for every little detail and she had given her everything she could remember, knowing that this was her one big opportunity to tell the world the truth.**

"I wonder what you left out." Hermione said.

"Probably being restrained and tortured." Cris said.

"Probably," Ron said.

**She wondered how people would react to the story. She guessed that it would confirm a lot of people in the view that she was completely insane, not least because her story would be appearing alongside utter rubbish about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. **

**But the breakout of Bellatrix Lestrange and her fellow Death Eaters had given Cris a burning desire to do something, whether or not it worked…**

**"****Can't wait to see what Umbridge thinks of you going public," said Dean, sounding awestruck at dinner on Monday night. Seamus was shoveling down large amounts of chicken and ham pie on Dean's other side, but Cris knew he was listening.**

"I hope this changes his point of view of everything." Cris said.

"I hope so too," Neville said.

**"****It's the right thing to do, Cris," said Neville, who was sitting opposite her. He was rather pale, but went on in a low voice, "It must have been… tough… talking about it… was it?"**

**"****Yeah," mumbled Cris, "but people have got to know what Voldemort's capable of, haven't they?"**

**"****That's right," said Neville, nodding, "and his Death Eaters, too… people should know…" **

"Thanks Nev," Cris said.

"People need to be warned." Neville said.

**Neville left his sentence hanging and returned to his baked potato. Seamus looked up, but when he caught Cris' eye he looked quickly back at his plate again. After a while, Dean, Seamus and Neville departed for the common room, leaving Cris and Hermione at the table waiting for Ron, who had not yet had dinner because of Quidditch practice.**

"Wow, she's really pushing you guys." Charlie said.

"You'd be surprised." George said.

**Fred and George walked into the Hall with Lee. Cris' stomach gave a pleasant lurch, they looked up at her and winked as they sat down with Lee. Cris blushed brightly and went back to her dinner**

**"****Oh, I forgot to ask you," said Hermione brightly, glancing over at the Fred and George, "what happened on your date with Fred and George? What did you guys do?" **

"**It was a lot of fun." Cris said with a smile. **

"**Well, what did you do?" Hermione pressed. **

"**It was different from anything I ever heard of. We went to Madame Puddifoot's to pull a prank on the couples in there." Cris said.**

"**You didn't," Hermione said wide eyed. **

"**We did, and it was a lot of fun, I can see why my dad loved it." Cris said. **

"No!" Lily, McGonagall and Mrs. Weasley cried.

"We corrupted you!" the twins cried.

"I knew it was a matter of time before you pulled your first prank." Sirius said.

"Just what we need." McGonagall muttered.

**Ron came in and sat down heavily beside them. He and Ginny were both covered in mud and Ron looked really grumpy. **

"**So, how was Quidditch practice?" Cris asked.**

"**I was a nightmare," said Ron in a surly voice.**

**"****Oh come on," said Hermione, looking at Ginny, "I'm sure it wasn't that -"**

**"****Yes, it was," said Ginny. "It was appalling. Angelina was nearly in tears by the end of it." **

"Angelina rarely cries too." George said.

"So it must be bad." Cris said.

**Ron and Ginny went off for baths after dinner; Cris and Hermione returned to the busy Gryffindor common room and their usual pile of homework. Cris had been struggling with a new star-chart for Astronomy for half an hour when Fred and George turned up.**

**"****Ron and Ginny not here?" asked Fred, looking around as he pulled up a chair, and when Cris shook his head, he said, "Good. We were watching their practice. They're going to be slaughtered. They're complete rubbish without us."**

**"****Come on, Ginny's not bad," said George fairly, sitting down next to Fred. "Actually, I dunno how she got so good, seeing how we never let her play with us." **

"Why is that?" Ginny asked.

"You just didn't seem like you wanted to." George said.

"We won't make that mistake again." Fred said.

"Good," Ginny said.

**"****She's been breaking into your broom shed in the garden since the age of six and taking each of your brooms out in turn when you weren't looking," said Hermione from behind her tottering pile of Ancient Rune books.**

**"****Oh," said George, looking mildly impressed. "Well - that'd explain it."**

**"****Has Ron saved a goal yet?" asked Hermione, peering over the top of Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms.**

"I hope so," Ron said.

"You can do it; all you need is some confidence." Bill said. Ron smiled but didn't say anything else.

**"****Well, he can do it if he doesn't think anyone's watching him," said Fred, rolling his eyes. "So all we have to do is ask the crowd to turn their backs and talk among themselves every time the Quaffle goes up his end on Saturday."**

**He got up again and moved restlessly to the window, staring out across the dark grounds.**

**"****You know, Quidditch was about the only thing in this place worth staying for."**

"**What about me?" Cris asked in a mock pout. Fred turned and gave her a smile.**

"**That's not what I mean Bambi," Fred said giving her a small kiss. **

**Hermione cast him a stern look.**

**"****You've got exams coming!"**

"They're important," Lily said.

"But they already have the joke shop and I think they'll go far without their NEWTS." Prongs said.

"I hope you two don't leave school." Mrs. Weasley said.

**"****Told you already, we're not fussed about NEWTs," said Fred. "The Snackboxes are ready to roll, we found out how to get rid of those boils, just a couple of drops of Murtlap essence sorts them, Lee put us on to it."**

"And Cris told Lee." Fred said.

"And Hermione told Cris so in reality it's thanks to Hermione." George said.

"You mean I involuntarily gave you a prank idea?" Hermione asked wide eyed.

"Yep," the twins said.

**George yawned widely and looked out disconsolately at the cloudy night sky.**

**"****I dunno if I even want to watch this match. If Zacharias Smith beats us I might have to kill myself."**

**"****Kill him, more like," said Fred firmly.**

**"****That's the trouble with Quidditch," said Hermione absent-mindedly, once again bent over her Runes translation, "it creates all this bad feeling and tension between the houses."**

"But that's why it's fun." Padfoot said.

"I don't understand it." Hermione said.

"Me neither," Lily said.

**She looked up to find her copy of Spellman's Syllabary, and caught Fred, George and Cris all staring at her with expressions of mingled disgust and incredulity on their faces.**

**"****Well, it does!" she said impatiently. "It's only a game, isn't it?"**

**"****Hermione," said Cris, shaking her head, "you're good on feelings and stuff, but you just don't understand about Quidditch."**

**"****Maybe not," she said darkly, returning to her translation, "but at least my happiness doesn't depend on Ron's goalkeeping ability." **

Ron and Hermione looked at each other but Ron kissed her before Hermione could say anything.

"It's okay, I know what you mean." Ron said.

**And though Cris would rather have jumped off the Astronomy Tower than admit it to her, by the time she had watched the game the following Saturday she would have given any number of Galleons not to care about Quidditch either.**

"Great, how bad was it?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," Cris said.

"I don't want to know." Prongs said.

**The very best thing you could say about the match was that it was short; the Gryffindor spectators had to endure only twenty-two minutes of agony. It was hard to say what the worst thing was: Cris thought it was a close-run contest between Ron's fourteenth failed save, Sloper missing the Bludger but hitting Angelina in the mouth with his bat, and Kirke shrieking and falling backwards off his broom when Zacharias Smith zoomed at him carrying the Quaffle. The miracle was that Gryffindor only lost by ten points: Ginny managed to snatch the Snitch from right under Hufflepuff Seeker Summerby's nose, so that the final score was two hundred and forty versus two hundred and thirty.**

"That's not too bad." Padfoot said.

"No, not bad at all." Bill said.

"**Good catch," Cris told Ginny back in the common room, where the atmosphere resembled that of a particularly dismal funeral.**

"**I was lucky," she shrugged. "It wasn't a very fast Snitch and Summerby's got a cold, he sneezed and closed his eyes at exactly the wrong moment.**

"Ginny, you sound like Cris." Charlie said. Ginny pouted and stuck her tongue out at her older brother.

**Anyway, once you're back on the team -"**

**"****Ginny, I've got a lifelong ban."**

"Only until Umbridge leaves, which will be very soon and the three of you will be back on the team." Keiran said.

"Good, I'd like that." Cris said wishing to be back in the air again.

**"****You're banned as long as Umbridge is in the school," Ginny corrected her. **

Keiran and Ginny smiled at each other though Ginny's was a little more awkward.

**"There's a difference. Anyway, once you're back, I think I'll try out for Chaser. Angelina and Alicia are both leaving next year and I prefer goal-scoring to Seeking anyway."**

"And you made an excellent chaser, Aunt Ginny." Lily J said.

"I hope so," Ginny said.

"You'll see." James said.

**Cris looked over at Ron, who was hunched in a corner, staring at his knees, a bottle of Butterbeer clutched in his hand.**

**"Angelina still won't let him resign," Ginny said, as though reading Cris' mind.**** "****She says she knows he's got it in him."**

**Cris liked Angelina for the faith she was showing in Ron, but at the same time thought it would really be kinder to let him leave the team. Ron had left the pitch to another booming chorus of Weasley is our King sung with great gusto by the Slytherins, who were now favorites to win the Quidditch Cup.**

"Oh, I hope not." Padfoot said.

"It's still early, who knows." Remus said.

"True," Padfoot said.

**Fred and George wandered over.**

**"****I haven't even got the heart to take the mickey out of him," said Fred, looking over at Ron's crumpled figure. "Mind you… when he missed the fourteenth -"**

**He made wild motions with his arms as though doing an upright doggy-paddle.**

**"****- well, I'll save it for parties, eh?"**

"Great," Ron said.

"Don't worry, from what I heard from dad your stag night Fred and George had everyone laughing until they couldn't laugh anymore." Keiran said. Ron blushed brightly as Fred and George high-fived each other.

**Ron dragged himself up to bed shortly after this. Out of respect for his feelings, Cris waited a while before going up to the dormitory herself so that Ron could pretend to be asleep if he wanted to. Sure enough, when Cris finally entered the room Ron was snoring a little too loudly to be entirely plausible.**

Ron blushed brightly at that.

**Cris got into bed, thinking about the match. It had been immensely frustrating watching from the sidelines. She was quite impressed by Ginny's performance but she knew if she had been playing she could have caught the Snitch sooner… there had been a moment when it had been fluttering near Kirke's ankle; if Ginny hadn't hesitated, she might have been able to scrape a win for Gryffindor.**

"If you want I can give you some lessons." Cris said.

"What about me?" Charlie asked.

"No offence Charlie, I love you and everything but Cris is a little more understanding and patient." Ginny said. "Cris, I would love to."

"Great," Cris said with a big smile, "I may not be able to play but I can still help."

**Umbridge had been sitting a few rows below Cris and Hermione. Once or twice she had turned squatly in her seat to look at her, her wide toad's mouth stretched in what she thought had been a gloating smile. **

**The memory of it made her feel hot with anger as she lay there in the dark. After a few minutes, however, she remembered that she was supposed to be emptying her mind of all emotion before she slept, as Snape kept instructing her at the end of every Occlumency lesson.**

**She tried for a moment or two, but the thought of Snape on top of memories of Umbridge merely increased her sense of grumbling resentment and she found herself focusing instead on how much she loathed the pair of them. Slowly, Ron's snores died away, to be replaced by the sound of deep, slow breathing. It took Cris much longer to get to sleep; her body was tired, but it took her brain a long time to close down.**

**She dreamed that Neville and Professor Sprout were waltzing around the Room of Requirement while Professor McGonagall played the bagpipes.**

"You have strange dreams Cris," Neville said blushing brightly.

"I know, this is so weird." Cris said.

**She watched them happily for a while, then decided to go and find the other members of the D.A..**

**But when she left the room she found herself facing, not the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, but a torch burning in its bracket on a stone wall. She turned her head slowly to the left. There, at the far end of the windowless passage, was a plain, black door.**

**She walked towards it with a sense of mounting excitement. She had the strangest feeling that this time she was going to get lucky at last, and find the way to open it… she was feet from it, and saw with a leap of excitement that there was a glowing strip of faint blue light down the right-hand side… the door was ajar… she stretched out her hand to push it wide and -**

**Ron gave a loud, rasping, genuine snore and Cris awoke abruptly with her right hand stretched in front of her in the darkness, to open a door that was hundreds of miles away. She let it fall with a feeling of mingled disappointment and guilt. She knew she should not have seen the door, but at the same time felt so consumed with curiosity about what was behind it that she could not help feeling annoyed with Ron… if only he could have saved his snore for just another minute. **

"Sorry Bolt," Ron said with a laugh.

"It's alright, but you know me and my curiosity." Cris said.

"We know," the group said and Cris smiled sheepishly as Hermione continued reading.

**They entered the Great Hall for breakfast at exactly the same moment as the post owls on Monday morning. Hermione was not the only person eagerly awaiting her Daily Prophet: nearly everyone was eager for more news about the escaped Death Eaters, who, despite many reported sightings, had still not been caught. **

"Wow, the Ministry sucks." Gwen said.

"No kidding," Viktor said.

**She gave the delivery owl a Knut and unfolded the newspaper eagerly while Cris helped herself to orange juice; as she had only received one note during the entire year, she was sure, when the first owl landed with a thud in front of her, that it had made a mistake.**

**"****Who're you after?" she asked it, languidly removing her orange juice from underneath its beak and leaning forwards to see the recipient's name and address:**

**Cristal Potter, Great Hall, Hogwarts School.**

**Frowning, she made to take the letter from the owl, but before she could do so, three, four, five more owls had fluttered down beside it and were jockeying for position, treading in the butter and knocking over the salt as each one attempted to give her their letter first**

"I think the article got printed." Bill said.

"I wonder how people will react." Robin said.

**"****What's going on?" Ron asked in amazement, as the whole of Gryffindor table leaned forwards to watch and another seven owls landed amongst the first ones, screeching, hooting and flapping their wings.**

"I've never seen that many letters since fourth year." Ginny said.

"No kidding, I hope they don't have any curses in them." Hermione said.

"I hope not." Cris said.

**"****Cris!" said Hermione breathlessly, plunging her hands into the feathery mass and pulling out a screech owl bearing a long, cylindrical package. "I think I know what this means - open this one first!"**

**Cris ripped off the brown packaging. Out rolled a tightly furled copy of the March edition of The Quibbler. She unrolled it to see her own face grinning sheepishly at her from the front cover. In large red letters across this picture were the words:**

**SPEAKS OUT AT LAST: THE TRUTH ABOUT HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED AND THE NIGHT I SAW HIM RETURN**

"Zat should gain attention." Fleur said.

"It will definitely have people second guessing themselves." Tonks said.

**"It's good, isn't it?" said Luna, who had drifted over to the Gryffindor table and now squeezed herself on to the bench between Fred and Ron.**

**"****It came out yesterday, I asked Dad to send you a free copy. I expect all these," she waved a hand at the assembled owls still scrambling around on the table in front of Cris, "are letters from readers."**

"I wonder if they all believe me." Cris said.

"Well we just have to read and find out." Remus said.

**"****That's what I thought," said Hermione eagerly. "Cris, d'you mind if we -?"**

**"****Help yourself," said Cris, feeling slightly bemused.**

**Ron and Hermione both started ripping open envelopes.**

**"****This one's from a bloke who thinks you're off your rocker," said Ron, glancing down his letter. "Ah well…"**

**"****This woman recommends you try a good course of Shock Spells at St. Mungo's," said Hermione, looking disappointed and crumpling up a second.**

**"****This one looks okay, though," said Cris slowly, scanning a long letter from a witch in Paisley.**

**"****Hey, she says she believes me!"**

"Yah!" cried the room.

**"****This one's in two minds," said Fred, who had joined in the letter-opening with enthusiasm. "Says you don't come across as a mad person, but he really doesn't want to believe You-Know- Who's back so he doesn't know what to think now. Blimey, what a waste of parchment."**

**"****Here's another one you've convinced, Cris!" said Hermione excitedly. "Having read your side of the story, I am forced to the conclusion that the Daily Prophet has treated you very unfairly… little though I want to think that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned, I am forced to accept that you are telling the truth… Oh, this is wonderful!"**

**"Another one who thinks you're barking," said Ron, throwing a crumpled letter over his shoulder "… but this one says you've got her converted and she now thinks you're a real hero - she's put in a photograph, too - wow!"**

Hermione slapped Ron. "Oi! I haven't done it yet." Ron exclaimed.

"I know, but don't do it." Hermione said.

"Alright," Ron said.

**"****What is going on here?" said a falsely sweet, girlish voice.**

"Well they are reading letters, that is not against the rules." Bill said.

"Nor is reading a magazine." Tonks said.

"Though why do I have the feeling that something is going to happen that we won't like." Lily said.

**Cris looked up with her hands full of envelopes. Professor Umbridge was standing behind Fred and Luna, her bulging toad's eyes scanning the mess of owls and letters on the table in front of Cris. Behind her she saw many of the students watching them avidly.**

**"****Why have you got all these letters, Miss Potter?" she asked slowly. **

"Because people wrote to her, I know it's a concept you can't quite grasp." Tonks said.

**"****Is that a crime now?" said Fred loudly. "Getting mail?"**

**"****Be careful, Mr. Weasley, or I shall have to put you in detention," said Umbridge. "Well, Miss Potter?"**

**Cris hesitated, but she did not see how she could keep what she had done quiet; it was surely only a matter of time before a copy of **_**The Quibbler**_** came to Umbridge's attention.**

**"****People have written to me because I gave an interview," said Cris. "About what happened to me last June."**

**For some reason she glanced up at the staff table as she said this. Cris had the strangest feeling that Dumbledore had been watching her a second before, but when she looked towards the Headmaster he seemed to be absorbed in conversation with Professor Flitwick.**

**"****An interview?" repeated Umbridge, her voice thinner and higher than ever. "What do you mean?"**

"Are you really this stupid, it's quite simple." Gwen said.

"How dare you! You filthy Muggle!" Umbridge shouted. Cris jumped up in front of as did Viktor and most of the room.

"Don't you dare talk to her like that, she is far better than you will ever be." Cris growled.

"I suggest you sit down Dolores." Amelia said. She did but she still glared at Cris and Gwen. Everyone was back in their seats and Hermione continued to read.

**"****I mean a reporter asked me questions and I answered them," said Cris. "Here -"**

**And she threw the copy of The Quibbler to her. She caught it and stared down at the cover. Her pale, doughy face turned an ugly, patchy violet.**

"Someone's not happy." Charlie said with a smile.

**"When did you do this?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly.**

**"Last Hogsmeade weekend," said Cris.**

**She looked up at her, incandescent with rage, the magazine shaking in her stubby fingers.**

**"There will be no more Hogsmeade trips for you, Miss Potter," she whispered. "How you dare… how you could…" She took a deep breath. "I have tried again and again to teach you not to tell lies. The message, apparently, has still not sunk in. Fifty points from Gryffindor and another week's worth of detentions."**

"More detentions!" Sirius shouted. If Cris wasn't in his lap he would have killed the toad right then and there.

"How badly scared is my hand?" Cris asked.

"It's bad enough that you can easily read it." Victoire said.

"That's just sick." Remus said.

**She stalked away, clutching The Quibbler to her chest, the eyes of many students following her.**

**By mid-morning enormous signs had been put up all over the school, not just on house noticeboards, but in the corridors and classrooms too.**

**BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS**

**Any student found in possession of the magazine The Quibbler will be expelled.**

**The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-seven.**

**Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor**

"Now everyone will be reading it." George said.

"Yep, they'll be wondering what was in it." Charlie said.

**For some reason, every time Hermione caught sight of one of these signs she beamed with pleasure.**

**"****What exactly are you so happy about?" Cris asked her.**

**"****Oh, Cris, don't you see?" Hermione breathed. "If she could have done one thing to make absolutely sure that every single person in this school will read your interview, it was banning it!" **

"Exactly." Gwen said.

**And it seemed that Hermione was quite right. By the end of the day, though Cris had not seen so much as a corner of The Quibbler anywhere in the school, the whole place seemed to be quoting the interview to each other. Cris heard them whispering about it as they queued up outside classes, discussing it over lunch and in the back of lessons, while Hermione even reported that every occupant of the cubicles in the girls' toilets had been talking about it when she nipped in there before Ancient Runes. "Then they spotted me, and obviously they know I know you, so they bombarded me with questions," Hermione told Cris, her eyes shining, "and Cris, I think they believe you, I really do, I think you've finally got them convinced!"**

**Meanwhile, Professor Umbridge was stalking the school, stopping students at random and demanding that they turn out their books and pockets: Cris knew she was looking for copies of The Quibbler, but the students were several steps ahead of her. The pages carrying Cris' interview had been bewitched to resemble extracts from textbooks if anyone but themselves read it, or else wiped magically blank until they wanted to peruse it again. Soon it seemed that every single person in the school had read it.**

**The teachers were of course forbidden from mentioning the interview by Educational Decree Number Twenty-six, but they found ways to express their feelings about it all the same.**

**Professor Sprout awarded Gryffindor twenty points when Cris passed her a watering can; **

"Well that is one way to express it." Cris said. Umbridge was fuming; all her attempts were being thwarted by a bunch of bratty teenagers.

**a beaming Professor Flitwick pressed a box of squeaking sugar mice on him at the end of Charms, said, "Shh!" and hurried away; **

"Mmm, I'm hungry." Ron said.

"You're always hungry." Ginny said.

**and Professor Trelawney broke into hysterical sobs during Divination and announced to the startled class, and a very disapproving Umbridge, that Cris was not going to suffer an early death after all, but would live to a ripe old age, become Minister for Magic and have twelve children.**

"No offence mum, I love my siblings, but I don't want twelve." James said.

"Me too," Lily J and Al said.

"I don't want twelve either, and I don't think I want to be Minister." Cris said.

"No one blames you for that." Tonks said.

**And unbelievably, no sooner had Cris arrived outside Transfiguration than something just as good happened: Seamus stepped out of the queue to face him.**

**"****I just wanted to say," he mumbled, squinting at Cris' left knee, "I believe you. And I've sent a copy of that magazine to me mam." **

"Yah!" Cris and the rest of the students exclaimed.

"About time," Sirius said.

**If anything more was needed to complete Cris' happiness, it was the reaction she got from Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. She saw them with their heads together later that afternoon in the library; they were with a weedy-looking boy Hermione whispered was called Theodore Nott.**

"And we can't say anything to either confirm or deny it." Draco said.

"Yep," Luna said.

**They looked round at Cris as she browsed the shelves for the book she needed on Partial Vanishment: Goyle cracked his knuckles threateningly and Malfoy whispered something undoubtedly malevolent to Crabbe. Cris knew perfectly well why they were acting like this: she had named all of their fathers as Death Eaters.**

**"****And the best bit," whispered Hermione gleefully, as they left the library, "is they can't contradict you, because they can't admit they've read the article!"**

**To cap it all, Luna told her over dinner that no issue of The Quibbler had ever sold out faster.**

**"****Dad's reprinting!" she told Cris, her eyes popping excitedly. "He can't believe it, he says people seem even more interested in this than the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks!" **

"Yeah, no offence Luna but this article has truth in it." Draco whispered. Luna looked at him questionably but shrugged her shoulders, it was probably true.

**Cris was a hero in the Gryffindor common room that night. Daringly, Fred and George had put an Enlargement Charm on the front cover of The Quibbler and hung it on the wall, so that Cris' giant head gazed down upon the proceedings, occasionally saying things like 'THE MINISTRY ARE MORONS' and 'EAT DUNG, UMBRIDGE' in a booming voice. **

The twins laughed and high-fived each other.

"That's awesome." Gwen said.

"Does McGonagall still have it?" Remus asked.

"She does," Keiran said.

**Hermione did not find this very amusing; she said it interfered with her concentration, and she ended up going to bed early out of irritation. Cris had to admit that the poster was not quite as funny after an hour or two, especially when the talking spell had started to wear off, so that it merely shouted disconnected words like 'DUNG' and 'UMBRIDGE' at more and more frequent intervals in a progressively higher voice. In fact, it started to make her head ache and her scar began prickling uncomfortably again. To disappointed moans from the many people who were sitting around her, asking her to relive her interview for the umpteenth time, she announced that she too needed an early night.**

**The dormitory was empty when she reached it. She rested her forehead for a moment against the cool glass of the window beside her bed; it felt soothing against her scar. Then she undressed and got into bed, wishing her headache would go away. She also felt slightly sick. She rolled over on to her side, closed her eyes, and fell asleep almost at once…**

**She was standing in a dark, curtained room lit by a single branch of candles. **

"Okay, a different dream." Ron said.

"I wonder what this one is about." Gwen said.

**Her hands were clenched on the back of a chair in front of her. They were long-fingered and white as though they had not seen sunlight for years and looked like large, pale spiders against the dark velvet of the chair.**

**Beyond the chair, in a pool of light cast upon the floor by the candles, knelt a man in black robes.**

**"****I have been badly advised, it seems," said Cris, in a high, cold voice that pulsed with anger. **

"This is like the dream with the snake." Cris whispered wide-eyed.

"It seems like it." Sirius said rubbing soothing circles on her back.

**"****Master, I crave your pardon," croaked the man kneeling on the floor. The back of his head glimmered in the candlelight. He seemed to be trembling.**

**"I do not blame you, Rookwood," said Cris in that cold, cruel voice.**

Cris started shaking she didn't want to think like she was Voldemort.

"It's not you Prongslet, just remember that." Sirius whispered.

**She relinquished her grip on the chair and walked around it, closer to the man cowering on the floor, until she stood directly over him in the darkness, looking down from a far greater height than usual.**

"**You are sure of your facts, Rookwood?" asked Cris.**

"**Yes, My Lord, yes… I used to work in the Department after - after all…"**

"**Avery told me Bode would be able to remove it."**

"**Bode could never have taken it, Master… Bode would have known he could not… undoubtedly, that is why he fought so hard against Malfoy's Imperius Curse…"**

"**Stand up, Rookwood," whispered Cris.**

**The kneeling man almost fell over in his haste to obey. His face was pockmarked; the scars were thrown into relief by the candlelight. He remained a little stooped when standing, as though halfway through a bow, and he darted terrified looks up at Cris' face.**

"It's not you!" Sirius whispered as he felt her shake in his arms.

**"****You have done well to tell me this," said Cris. "Very well… I have wasted months on fruitless schemes, it seems… but no matter… we begin again, from now. You have Lord Voldemort's gratitude, Rookwood…"**

**"****My Lord… yes, My Lord," gasped Rookwood, his voice hoarse with relief.**

**"****I shall need your help. I shall need all the information you can give me."**

**"****Of course, My Lord, of course… anything…"**

**"****Very well… you may go. Send Avery to me."**

**Rookwood scurried backwards, bowing, and disappeared through a door.**

**Left alone in the dark room, Cris turned towards the wall. A cracked, age-spotted mirror hung on the wall in the shadows. Cris moved towards it. Her reflection grew larger and clearer in the darkness… a face whiter than a skull… red eyes with slits for pupils…**

**"****NOOOOOOOOO!"**

**"****What?" yelled a voice nearby.**

"Good, you're awake now." Mrs. Weasley said with a sigh of relief.

**Cris flailed around madly, became entangled in the hangings and fell out of her bed. For a few seconds she did not know where she was; she was convinced she was about to see the white, skull like face looming at her out of the dark again, then very near to her Ron's voice spoke.**

**"****Will you stop acting like a maniac so I can get you out of here!"**

**Ron wrenched the hangings apart and Cris stared up at him in the moonlight, flat on her back, her scar searing with pain. Ron looked as though she had just been getting ready for bed; one arm was out of his robes.**

**"****Has someone been attacked again?" asked Ron, pulling Cris roughly to her feet. "Is it Dad? Is it that snake?"**

**"****No - everyone's fine -" gasped Cris, whose forehead felt as though it were on fire. "Well… Avery isn't…**

"Well he's a Death Eater so there's nothing to worry about." Bill said.

"Though we now know what happened to Bode." Robin said.

**he's in trouble… he gave him the wrong information… Voldemort's really angry"**

**Cris groaned and sank, shaking, on to her bed, rubbing her scar.**

**"****But Rookwood's going to help him now… he's on the right track again…"**

**"****What are you talking about?" said Ron, sounding scared. "D'you mean… did you just see You- Know-Who?"**

**"****I was You-Know-Who," said Cris,**

"No you weren't, you're just able to see into his mind." Remus said.

"I don't like it." Cris said.

"We don't like it either." Sirius said.

**and she stretched out her hands in the darkness and held them up to her face, to check that they were no longer deathly white and long-fingered. "He was with Rookwood, he's one of the Death Eaters who escaped from Azkaban, remember? Rookwood's just told him Bode couldn't have done it."**

**"****Done what?"**

The Order member's looked at each other; he was getting close to getting the prophecy. Sirius, Robin and Remus looked at each other; they needed to tell Cris before something bad happens.

**"****Remove something… he said Bode would have known he couldn't have done it… Bode was under the Imperius Curse… I think he said Malfoy's dad put it on him."**

**"****Bode was bewitched to remove something?" Ron said. "But -Cris, that's got to be -"**

"The weapon," the group said.

**"****The weapon," Cris finished the sentence for him. "I know"**

**The dormitory door opened; Dean and Seamus came in. Cris swung her legs back into bed. She did not want to look as though anything odd had just happened, seeing as Seamus had only just stopped thinking Cris was a nutter.**

**"****Did you say," murmured Ron, putting his head close to Cris' on the pretence of helping himself to water from the jug on her bedside table, "that you were You-Know-Who?"**

**"****Yeah," said Cris quietly.**

**Ron took an unnecessarily large gulp of water; Cris saw it spill over his chin on to his chest.**

**"****Cris," he said, as Dean and Seamus clattered around noisily, pulling off their robes and talking, "you've got to tell -"**

**"****I haven't got to tell anyone," said Cris shortly. "I wouldn't have seen it at all if I could do Occlumency. I'm supposed to have learned to shut this stuff out. That's what they want." **

"Can you block him even though the two of you have a connection?" Bill asked.

"I don't know, but I have to try." Cris said.

"That's all we ask, not everyone has the skill to do Occlumency though." Sirius said.

**By 'they' she meant Dumbledore. She got back into bed and rolled over on to her side with her back to Ron and after a while she heard Ron's mattress creak as he, too, lay back down. Cris' scar began to burn; she bit hard on her pillow to stop herself making a noise. Somewhere, she knew, Avery was being punished.**

**Cris and Ron waited until break next morning to tell Hermione exactly what had happened; they wanted to be absolutely sure they could not be overheard. Standing in their usual corner of the cool and breezy courtyard, Cris told her every detail of the dream she could remember.**

**When she had finished, she said nothing at all for a few moments, but stared with a kind of painful intensity at Fred and George, who were both headless and selling their magical hats from under their cloaks on the other side of the yard.**

"Zat's got to be so weird." Fleur said.

"It's not one of their best selling items." Keiran said.

**"****So that's why they killed him," she said quietly, withdrawing her gaze from Fred and George at last. "When Bode tried to steal this weapon, something funny happened to him. I think there must be defensive spells on it, or around it, to stop people touching it. That's why he was in St. Mungo's, his brain had gone all funny and he couldn't talk. But remember what the Healer told us? He was recovering. And they couldn't risk him getting better, could they? I mean, the shock of whatever happened when he touched that weapon probably made the Imperius Curse lift. Once he'd got his voice back, he'd explain what he'd been doing, wouldn't he? They would have known he'd been sent to steal the weapon. Of course, it would have been easy for Lucius Malfoy to put the curse on him. Never out of the Ministry, is he?"**

**"****He was even hanging around that day I had my hearing," said Cris. "In the - hang on…" she said slowly. "He was in the Department of Mysteries corridor that day! Your dad said he was probably trying to sneak down and find out what happened in my hearing, but what if -"**

"Maybe he was tryin to Imperius Sturgis." Tonks said.

"It does fit." Remus said.

"We should probably teach the Order members how to fight off the curse." Moody said.

"That's a good idea." Dumbledore said.

**"****Sturgis!" gasped Hermione, looking thunderstruck.**

**"****Sorry?" said Ron, looking bewildered.**

**"****Sturgis Podmore -" said Hermione breathlessly, "arrested for trying to get through a door! Lucius Malfoy must have got him too! I bet he did it the day you saw him there, Cris. Sturgis had Moody's Invisibility Cloak, right? So, what if he was standing guard by the door, invisible, and Malfoy heard him move - or guessed someone was there - or just did the Imperius Curse on the off-chance there'd be a guard there? So, when Sturgis next had an opportunity - probably when it was his turn on guard duty again - he tried to get into the Department to steal the weapon for Voldemort - Ron, be quiet - but he got caught and sent to Azkaban…" She gazed at Cris.**

"That does make sense." Bill said.

"Does it seem ironic that even though we kept them out of the loop they still figure out what was going on?" Tonks asked.

"It is really ironic." Kingsley said.

**"****And now Rookwood's told Voldemort how to get the weapon?"**

**"I didn't hear all the conversation, but that's what it sounded like," said Cris. "Rookwood used to work there… maybe Voldemort'll send Rookwood to do it?"**

"It won't work." Sirius said.

"How do you know?" Cris asked.

"I'm sure you'll find out why." Dumbledore said. Sirius glared at the Headmaster, Cris was ready to be told but the Headmaster was adamant about keeping her in the dark.

**Hermione nodded, apparently still lost in thought. Then, quite abruptly, she said, "But you shouldn't have seen this at all, Cris."**

**"****What?" she said, taken aback.**

**"****You're supposed to be learning how to close your mind to this sort of thing," said Hermione, suddenly stern.**

**"****I know I am," said Cris. "But -"**

**"****Well, I think we should just try and forget what you saw," said Hermione firmly. "And you ought to put in a bit more effort on your Occlumency from now on." **

"I'd like to see you try." Cris said.

"Yeah, I'm sorry; I didn't know how it was." Hermione said.

**Cris was so angry with her she did not talk to her for the rest of the day, which proved to be another bad one. When people were not discussing the escaped Death Eaters in the corridors, they were laughing at Gryffindor's abysmal performance in their match against Hufflepuff; the Slytherins were singing Weasley is our King so loudly and frequently that by sundown Filch had banned it from the corridors out of sheer irritation.**

"Wow, he actually does something worthwhile." Sirius said.

"Sorry for making up that stupid song." Draco said.

"I'm over it." Ron said.

**The week did not improve as it progressed. Cris received two more P's in Potions; **

"I understand why you are getting the grades now." Lily said.

"You're just being overworked." Prongs said.

**she was still on tenterhooks that Hagrid might get the sack; and she couldn't stop herself dwelling on the dream in which she had been Voldemort - though she didn't bring it up with Ron and Hermione again; she didn't want another telling-off from Hermione. She wished very much that she could have talked to Sirius about it, but that was out of the question, so she tried to push the matter to the back of her mind.**

"Mate, you should have told her what the package was." Prongs said.

"No kidding," Sirius said.

**Unfortunately, the back of her mind was no longer the secure place it had once been.**

"Dumbledore, if you really want her to learn let us teach her, Snape isn't doing a good job obviously." Remus said. Dumbledore just sighed and nodded, Severus really wasn't doing a good job at teaching Cris what she needed.

**"****Get up, Potter."**

**A couple of weeks after her dream of Rookwood, Cris was to be found, yet again, kneeling on the floor of Snape's office, trying to clear her head. She had just been forced, yet again, to relive a stream of very early memories she had not even realized she still had, most of them concerning humiliations Dudley and his gang had inflicted upon her in primary school.**

The group growled, vowing revenge on the Dursley's.

**"****That last memory," said Snape. "What was it?"**

**"I don't know," said Cris, getting wearily to her feet. She was finding it increasingly difficult to disentangle separate memories from the rush of images and sound that Snape kept calling forth.**

**"****You mean the one where my cousin tried to make me stand in the toilet?"**

"Why would he do that?" Bill asked.

"I have no idea." Cris said.

"I don't understand why my sister is turning a blind eye to all of this." Lily said.

"That's Petunia for you." Kit said.

"Sadly, yes." Lily said.

**"****No," said Snape softly. "I mean the one with a man kneeling in the middle of a darkened room…"**

**"****It's… nothing," said Cris.**

**Snape's dark eyes bored into Cris'. Remembering what Snape had said about eye contact being crucial to Legilimency, Cris blinked and looked away.**

"Good idea," Sirius said.

**"****How do that man and that room come to be inside your head, Potter?" said Snape.**

**"****It -" said Cris, looking everywhere but at Snape, "it was -just a dream I had."**

**"****A dream?" repeated Snape.**

**There was a pause during which Cris stared fixedly at a large dead frog suspended in a jar of purple liquid.**

**"****You do know why we are here, don't you, Potter?" said Snape, in a low, dangerous voice. "You do know why I am giving up my evenings to this tedious job?"**

**"****Yes," said Cris stiffly.**

**"****Remind me why we are here, Potter."**

**"****So I can learn Occlumency," said Cris, now glaring at a dead eel.**

**"****Correct, Potter. And dim though you may be -" Cris looked back at Snape, hating him "- I would have thought that after over two months of lessons you might have made some progress. How many other dreams about the Dark Lord have you had?"**

**"****Just that one," lied Cris.**

**"****Perhaps," said Snape, his dark, cold eyes narrowing slightly, "perhaps you actually enjoy having these visions and dreams, Potter. Maybe they make you feel special - important?" **

"They aren't fun, I'd like to see you have them. They are bloody painful." Cris said.

**"****No, they don't," said Cris, her jaw set and her fingers clenched tightly around the handle of her wand.**

**"****That is just as well, Potter," said Snape coldly, "because you are neither special nor important, and it is not up to you to find out what the Dark Lord is saying to his Death Eaters."**

**"****No - that's your job, isn't it?" Cris shot at him.**

"Not the best time for my wit to come out." Lily said wincing.

**She had not meant to say it; it had burst out of her in temper. For a long moment they stared at each other, Cris convinced she had gone too far. But there was a curious, almost satisfied expression on Snape's face when she answered. **

"It reminded me of Lily," Snape muttered under his breath for no one to hear.

**"****Yes, Potter," he said, his eyes glinting. "That is my job. Now, if you are ready, we will start again."**

**He raised his wand: "One — two - three -Legilimens!"**

**A hundred Dementors were swooping towards Cris across the lake in the grounds…**

Sirius involuntarily shuddered at that memory.

**she screwed up her face in concentration… they were coming closer… she could see the dark holes beneath their hoods… yet she could also see Snape standing in front of her, his eyes fixed on Cris' face, muttering under his breath… and somehow, Snape was growing clearer, and the Dementors were growing fainter…**

**Cris raised her own wand.**

**"****Protego!"**

**Snape staggered - his wand flew upwards, away from Cris - and suddenly Cris' mind was teeming with memories that were not hers: a hook-nosed man was shouting at a cowering woman, while a small dark-haired boy cried in a corner… a greasy-haired teenager sat alone in a dark bedroom, pointing his wand at the ceiling, shooting down flies… a girl was laughing as a scrawny boy tried to mount a bucking broomstick -**

Sirius' eyes widened, he hadn't expected for Snape's childhood would be similar to his own.

**"****ENOUGH!"**

**Cris felt as though she had been pushed hard in the chest; she staggered several steps backwards, hit some of the shelves covering Snape's walls and heard something crack. Snape was shaking slightly, and was very white in the face.**

**The back of Cris' robes was damp. One of the jars behind her had broken when she fell against it; the pickled slimy thing within was swirling in its draining potion.**

**"****Reparo," hissed Snape, and the jar sealed itself at once. "Well, Potter… that was certainly an improvement…" Panting slightly, Snape straightened the Pensieve in which he had again stored some of his thoughts before starting the lesson, almost as though he was checking they were still there. "I don't remember telling you to use a Shield Charm… but there is no doubt that it was effective…" **

"And I think you scared him." Bill said.

"Maybe," Cris muttered.

**Cris did not speak; she felt that to say anything might be dangerous. She was sure she had just broken into Snape's memories, that she had just seen scenes from Snape's childhood. It was unnerving to think that the little boy who had been crying as he watched his parents shouting was actually standing in front of her with such loathing in his eyes. **

"It just goes to show that bad childhood can affect the person you grow up to be." Lily said.

"But not everyone." Robin said kissing Sirius' cheek.

**"Let's try again, shall we?" said Snape.**

**Cris felt a thrill of dread; she was about to pay for what had just happened, she was sure of it. They moved back into position with the desk between them, Cris feeling she was going to find it much harder to empty her mind this time.**

**"On the count of three, then," said Snape, raising his wand once more. "One - two -" **

**Cris did not have time to gather herself together and attempt to clear her mind before Snape cried, "Legilimens!"**

**She was hurtling along the corridor towards the Department of Mysteries, past the blank stone walls, past the torches - the plain black door was growing ever larger; she was moving so fast she was going to collide with it, she was feet from it and again she could see that chink of faint blue light - The door had flown open! **

"Wait, what?" Bill asked.

"That shouldn't be possible," Snape said.

"Unless Voldemort was thinking about it the same time the spell was cast." Remus said.

"That's possible." McGonagall said.

**She was through it at last, inside a black-walled, black-floored circular room lit with blue-flamed candles, and there were more doors all around her - she needed to go on - but which door ought she to take -?**

"So the Department of Mysteries is a maze?" Hermione asked.

"Something like that." Tonks said.

**"POTTER!"**

**Cris opened her eyes. She was flat on her back again with no memory of having gotten there; she was also panting as though she really had run the length of the Department of Mysteries corridor, really had sprinted through the black door and found the circular room.**

**"Explain yourself!" said Snape, who was standing over her, looking furious.**

**"I… dunno what happened," said Cris truthfully, standing up. There was a lump on the back of her head from where she had hit the ground and she felt feverish. "I've never seen that before. I mean, I told you, I've dreamed about the door… but it's never opened before"**

**"You are not working hard enough!" **

"You're not telling her how!" Sirius growled.

**For some reason, Snape seemed even angrier than he had done two minutes before, when Cris had seen into her teacher's memories.**

**"You are lazy and sloppy, Potter, it is small wonder that the Dark Lord -"**

**"Can you tell me something, sir?" said Cris, firing up again. "Why do you call Voldemort the Dark Lord? I've only ever heard Death Eaters call him that."**

"Cris, don't try and get him angry." Remus said.

"It hasn't happened yet." Cris said.

"I know, but still don't." Remus said.

**Snape opened his mouth in a snarl - and a woman screamed from somewhere outside the room.**

**Snape's head jerked upwards; he was gazing at the ceiling.**

**"What the -?" he muttered.**

**Cris could hear a muffled commotion coming from what she thought might be the Entrance Hall. Snape looked round at her, frowning.**

**"Did you see anything unusual on your way down here, Potter?"**

**Cris shook her head. Somewhere above them, the woman screamed again. Snape strode to his office door, his wand still held at the ready, and swept out of sight. Cris hesitated for a moment, then followed.**

**The screams were indeed coming from the Entrance Hall; they grew louder as Cris ran towards the stone steps leading up from the dungeons. When she reached the top she found the Entrance Hall packed; students had come flooding out of the Great Hall, where dinner was still in progress, to see what was going on; others had crammed themselves on to the marble staircase.**

"What's going on?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"I don't know, but I don't like it." Lily said.

**Cris pushed forwards through a knot of tall Slytherins and saw that the onlookers had formed a great ring, some of them looking shocked, others even frightened. Professor McGonagall was directly opposite Cris on the other side of the Hall; she looked as though what she was watching made her feel faintly sick.**

**Professor Trelawney was standing in the middle of the Entrance Hall with her wand in one hand and an empty sherry bottle in the other, looking utterly mad. **

"You better not be doing what I think you're doing." Tonks growled.

"I think she is." Remus said.

"You are a vile evil woman you know that?!" Robin screeched at Umbridge who just smiled sweetly at her.

"Don't smile at her that way!" Remus yelled protective of his pregnant sister.

**Her hair was sticking up on end, her glasses were lopsided so that one eye was magnified more than the other; her innumerable shawls and scarves were trailing haphazardly from her shoulders, giving the impression that she was falling apart at the seams. Two large trunks lay on the floor beside her, one of them upside down; it looked very much as though it had been thrown down the stairs after her. Professor Trelawney was staring, apparently terrified, at something Cris could not see but which seemed to be standing at the foot of the stairs.**

**"No!" she shrieked. "NO! This cannot be happening… it cannot… I refuse to accept it!"**

**"You didn't realize this was coming?" said a high girlish voice, sounding callously amused, and Cris, moving slightly to her right, saw that Trelawney's terrifying vision was nothing other than Professor Umbridge. **

"I hope something horrible happens to her." Charlie said.

"Me too," Bill said agreeing with his brother.

"It does, you just have to wait and see." Victoire said.

**"Incapable though you are of predicting even tomorrow's weather, you must surely have realized that your pitiful performance during my inspections, and lack of any improvement, would make it inevitable that you would be sacked?"**

**"You c - can't!" howled Professor Trelawney, tears streaming down her face from behind her enormous lenses, "you c - can't sack me! I've b - been here sixteen years! H - Hogwarts is in - my h - home!"**

**"It was your home," said Professor Umbridge, and Cris was revolted to see the enjoyment stretching her toad like face as she watched Professor Trelawney sink, sobbing uncontrollably, on to one of her trunks, "until an hour ago, when the Minister of Magic countersigned your Order of Dismissal. Now kindly remove yourself from this Hall. You are embarrassing us."**

"You can't do that!" McGonagall shouted glaring at the Ministry officials.

"Sure you can sack the teachers but you cannot force them from the school." Bill said.

**But she stood and watched, with an expression of gloating enjoyment, as Professor Trelawney shuddered and moaned, rocking backwards and forwards on her trunk in paroxysms of grief. Cris heard a muffled sob to her left and looked around. Lavender and Parvati were both crying quietly, their arms round each other. Then she heard footsteps. Professor McGonagall had broken away from the spectators, marched straight up to Professor Trelawney and was patting her firmly on the back while withdrawing a large handkerchief from within her robes.**

**"There, there, Sibyll… calm down… blow your nose on this… it's not as bad as you think, now… you are not going to have to leave Hogwarts…"**

"Exactly," Sirius said happy that Minnie was working against the vile toad of a woman.

**"Oh really, Professor McGonagall?" said Umbridge in a deadly voice, taking a few steps forward. "And your authority for that statement is…?"**

**"That would be mine," said a deep voice.**

"Uh-oh, someone's in trouble." Al said.

**The oaken front doors had swung open. Students beside them scuttled out of the way as Dumbledore appeared in the entrance. What he had been doing out in the grounds Cris could not imagine, but there was something impressive about the sight of him framed in the doorway against an oddly misty night. Leaving the doors wide open behind him he strode forwards through the circle of onlookers towards Professor Trelawney, tear-stained and trembling, on her trunk, Professor McGonagall alongside her.**

**"Yours, Professor Dumbledore?" said Umbridge, with a singularly unpleasant little laugh. "I'm afraid you do not understand the position. I have here -" she pulled a parchment scroll from within her robes "-an Order of Dismissal signed by myself and the Minister for Magic. Under the terms of Educational Decree Number Twenty-three, the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts has the power to inspect, place upon probation and sack any teacher she - that is to say, I - feel is not performing to the standards required by the Ministry of Magic. I have decided that Professor Trelawney is not up to scratch. I have dismissed her."**

"Yes, but nowhere does it say that they must leave the school." Padfoot said.

"Gotta love those loopholes." Moony said. Umbridge sat twitching in her chair and glaring at everyone in the room.

**To Cris' very great surprise, Dumbledore continued to smile.**

"You didn't think of the loophole?" Sirius asked.

"I haven't read the decree's in a while." Cris said.

**He looked down at Professor Trelawney, who was still sobbing and choking on her trunk, and said, "You are quite right, of course, Professor Umbridge. As High Inquisitor you have every right to dismiss my teachers. You do not, however, have the authority to send them away from the castle. I am afraid," he went on, with a courteous little bow, "that the power to do that still resides with the Headmaster, and it is my wish that Professor Trelawney continue to live at Hogwarts."**

**At this, Professor Trelawney gave a wild little laugh in which a hiccough was barely hidden.**

"**No - no, I'll g - go, Dumbledore! I sh - shall - leave Hogwarts and s - seek my fortune elsewhere -"**

"**No," said Dumbledore sharply. "It is my wish that you remain, Sibyll."**

"Why do you want her to stay?" Ginny asked.

"I'm sure it'll say sooner or later." Dumbledore said.

**He turned to Professor McGonagall. Vigorously discussed **

"**Might I ask you to escort Sibyll back upstairs, Professor McGonagall?"**

"**Of course," said McGonagall. "Up you get, Sibyll…"**

**Professor Sprout came hurrying forwards out of the crowd and grabbed Professor Trelawney's other arm. Together, they guided her past Umbridge and up the marble stairs. Professor Flitwick went scurrying after them, his wand held out before him; he squeaked "Locomotor trunks!" and Professor Trelawney's luggage rose into the air and proceeded up the staircase after her, Professor Flitwick bringing up the rear.**

**Professor Umbridge was standing stock still, staring at Dumbledore, who continued to smile benignly. **

"What are you planning?" Remus asked.

"Knowing Dumbledore, he found a replacement and it won't be someone Umbridge likes." Charlie said.

"That is something I would do." Dumbledore said with a chuckle.

**"And what," she said, in a whisper that carried all around the Entrance Hall, "are you going to do with her once I appoint a new Divination teacher who needs her lodgings?"**

**"Oh, that won't be a problem," said Dumbledore pleasantly. "You see, I have already found us a new Divination teacher, and he will prefer lodgings on the ground floor."**

"You didn't," Lily said.

"Did what?" Cris asked her mum.

"You'll see if I'm right." Lily said.

**"You've found -?" said Umbridge shrilly. "You've found? Might I remind you, Dumbledore, that under Educational Decree Number Twenty-two -"**

**"The Ministry has the right to appoint a suitable candidate if -and only if- the Headmaster is unable to find one," said Dumbledore. "And I am happy to say that on this occasion I have succeeded. May I introduce you?"**

**He turned to face the open front doors, through which night mist was now drifting. Cris heard hooves. There was a shocked murmur around the Hall and those nearest the doors hastily moved even further backwards, some of them tripping over in their haste to clear a path for the newcomer.**

**Through the mist came a face Cris had seen once before on a dark, dangerous night in the Forbidden Forest: white-blond hair and astonishingly blue eyes; the head and torso of a man joined to the palomino body of a horse.**

"Firenze!" Cris exclaimed.

"The centaur that helped you in first year?" Charlie asked.

"Yep," Cris said. The group started laughing as they realized that Umbridge will not like this appointment at all.

**"This is Firenze," said Dumbledore happily to a thunderstruck Umbridge. "I think you'll find him suitable."**

"That's the chapter." Hermione said.

"Oh, this should be fun." Sirius said. Hermione handed the book to Ron who started the next chapter.

ne in the room.

her chaire the school"oad of a woman.

be."the Headmaster was adament continued to read.


	29. Chapter 27: The Centaur and the Sneak

"**Chapter 27: The Centaur and the Sneak," **Ron read.

"I wonder what the sneak is." Bill wondered.

"I think someone told about the group." Hermione said.

"How do you know?" Sirius asked.

"That's what the spell spells out in pimples on the person who told about the group." Hermione said.

"That's awesome!" the marauders said.

**"****I'll bet you wish you hadn't given up Divination now, don't you, Hermione?" asked Parvati, smirking.**

"Even with a better Professor I wouldn't want to take the class." Hermione said.

"I really need to drop the class." Cris said.

"I don't blame you." Lily said.

**It was breakfast time, two days after the sacking of Professor Trelawney, and Parvati was curling her eyelashes around her wand and examining the effect in the back of her spoon. They were to have their first lesson with Firenze that morning.**

**"****Not really" said Hermione indifferently, who was reading the Daily Prophet. "I've never really liked horses."**

"You better not let Firenze hear you say that." Charlie said.

"She doesn't, but someone does." Keiran said.

"Who?!" cried the room.

"You'll find out." Victoire said.

"No fun," Bill said.

**She turned a page of the newspaper and scanned its columns.**

**"****He's not a horse, he's a centaur!" said Lavender, sounding shocked.**

**"****A gorgeous centaur…" sighed Parvati.**

**"****Either way, he's still got four legs," said Hermione coolly. "Anyway I thought you two were all upset that Trelawney had gone?"**

**"****We are!" Lavender assured her. "We went up to her office to see her; we took her some daffodils - not the honking ones that Sprout's got, nice ones."**

"I think I want the honking ones," Gwen said, "They sound fun."

"I vill get you some." Viktor whispered in her ear. Gwen smiled and nodded.

**"****How is she?" asked Cris.**

**"****Not very good, poor thing," said Lavender sympathetically. "She was crying and saying she'd rather leave the castle forever than stay here where Umbridge is, and I don't blame her, Umbridge was horrible to her, wasn't she?"**

**"****I've got a feeling Umbridge has only just started being horrible," said Hermione darkly.**

"And probably a lot faster too, I wouldn't be surprised if she found out about the group soon." Charlie said.

"That'll be our luck." Cris said.

**"****Impossible," said Ron, who was tucking into a large plate of eggs and bacon. "She can't get any worse than she's been already."**

"Ron!" groaned most of the room.

"You jinxed it, Red." Cris said.

"I know," Ron said.

**"****You mark my words, she's going to want revenge on Dumbledore for appointing a new teacher without consulting her," said Hermione, closing the newspaper. "Especially another part-human. You saw the look on her face when she saw Firenze." **

"This is not going to be good at all." Charlie said.

"I would love to see what he does to her." Ginny said.

**After breakfast Hermione departed for her Arithmancy class as Cris and Ron followed Parvati and Lavender into the Entrance Hall, heading for Divination.**

**"****Aren't we going up to North Tower?" asked Ron, looking puzzled, as Parvati bypassed the marble staircase.**

"Ron, he can't climb the latter." Charlie pointed out.

"I know," Ron said blushing.

**Parvati looked at him scornfully over her shoulder.**

**"****How d'you expect Firenze to climb that ladder? We're in classroom eleven now, it was on the noticeboard yesterday."**

**Classroom eleven was on the ground floor along the corridor leading off the Entrance Hall from the opposite side to the Great Hall. Cris knew it was one of those classrooms that were never used regularly, and therefore had the slightly neglected feeling of a cupboard or storeroom.**

Sirius growled at the mention of a cupboard for the unfair treatment of his pup.

**When she entered it right behind Ron, and found herself in the middle of a forest clearing, she was therefore momentarily stunned.**

**"What the -?"**

**The classroom floor had become springily mossy and trees were growing out of it; their leafy branches fanned across the ceiling and windows, so that the room was full of slanting shafts of soft, dappled, green light. The students who had already arrived were sitting on the earthy floor with their backs resting against tree trunks or boulders, arms wrapped around their knees or folded tightly across their chests, and all looking rather nervous. In the middle of the clearing, where there were no trees, stood Firenze.**

"That classroom is so cool!" Gwen said.

"I so want a classroom like that." Kit said.

"That would be so much fun." Padfoot said.

**"****Cristal Potter," he said, holding out a hand when Harry entered.**

**"****Hello Firenze," said Cris, shaking hands with the centaur, who surveyed her unblinkingly through those astonishingly blue eyes but did not smile. "It's good to see you again."**

**"****And you," said the centaur, inclining his white-blond head. "It was foretold that we would meet again."**

**Cris noticed there was the shadow of a hoof-shaped bruise on Firenze's chest. **

"The herd kicked him out." Charlie said.

"So it means that they kick him?" Gwen asked.

"Probably," Charlie said.

"That's sad," Lily said.

**As she turned to join the rest of the class on the ground, she saw they were all looking at her in awe, apparently deeply impressed that she was on speaking terms with Firenze, whom they seemed to find intimidating.**

**When the door was closed and the last student had sat down on a tree stump beside the wastepaper basket, Firenze gestured around the room.**

**"****Professor Dumbledore has kindly arranged this classroom for us," said Firenze, when everyone had settled down, "in imitation of my natural habitat. I would have preferred to teach you in the Forbidden Forest, which was - until Monday - my home… but that is no longer possible." **

"Well it's not like they are afraid of the forest, they've been in there many times." Charlie said.

"But it's forbidden for a reason." Mrs. Weasley said.

"It's not that scary depending on what part of the forest you're in." Cris said.

"Very true," Prongs said.

"I blame you." Lily said whacking Prongs across the head.

**"****Please - er - sir -" said Parvati breathlessly, raising her hand, "- why not? We've been in there with Hagrid, we're not frightened!"**

**"****It is not a question of your bravery," said Firenze, "but of my position. I cannot return to the Forest. My herd has banished me."**

"But why would they banish him?" Gwen asked.

"Centaurs are very proud creatures; they probably banished him because he agreed to work for Dumbledore." Charlie said.

**"****Herd?" said Lavender in a confused voice, and Cris knew she was thinking of cows. "What - oh!" Comprehension dawned on her face. "There are more of you!" she said, stunned.**

**"****Did Hagrid breed you, like the Thestrals?" asked Dean eagerly.**

"Does he have a death wish?" Kit asked.

"Apparently," Cris said.

**Firenze turned his head very slowly to face Dean, who seemed to realize at once that he had said something very offensive.**

**"****I didn't - I meant - sorry" he finished in a hushed voice.**

**"****Centaurs are not the servants or playthings of humans," said Firenze quietly. There was a pause, then Parvati raised her hand again.**

**"****Please, sir… why have the other centaurs banished you?"**

**"****Because I have agreed to work for Professor Dumbledore," said Firenze. "They see this as a betrayal of our kind."**

"And I thought Percy was proud." Ron whispered.

"I heard that." Percy said.

"You were supposed to." Ron said cheekily.

**Cris remembered how, nearly four years ago, the centaur Bane had shouted at Firenze for allowing Cris to ride to safety on his back; he had called him a 'common mule'. She wondered whether it had been Bane who had kicked Firenze in the chest. **

"Probably, Bane isn't all that nice." Padfoot said.

"You know him?" Cris asked.

"He is only a colt in our time." Prongs said.

**"****Let us begin," said Firenze. He swished his long palomino tail, raised his hand towards the leafy canopy overhead, then lowered it slowly, and as he did so, the light in the room dimmed, so that they now seemed to be sitting in a forest clearing by twilight, and stars appeared on the ceiling.**

"Man, now I really want to take Divinations only if Firenze is my teacher." Lily J said. Teddy growled and Lily J looked up at him raising an eyebrow. "Do I sense some jealous Ted?"

"No," Teddy said immediately.

"Sure," Lily J said.

**There were oohs and gasps and Ron said audibly, "Blimey!"**

**"****Lie back on the floor," said Firenze in his calm voice, "and observe the heavens. Here is written, for those who can see the fortune of our races."**

**Cris stretched out on his back and gazed upwards at the ceiling. A twinkling red star winked at him from overhead.**

"That would be Mars." Luna said.

"Bloody Mars," Remus muttered.

**"****I know that you have learned the names of the planets and their moons in Astronomy," said Firenze's calm voice, "and that you have mapped the stars progress through the heavens. Centaurs have unraveled the mysteries of these movements over centuries. Our findings teach us that the future may be glimpsed in the sky above us -"**

**"****Professor Trelawney did astrology with us!" said Parvati excitedly, raising her hand in front of her so that it stuck up in the air as she lay on her back. "Mars causes accidents and burns and things like that, and when it makes an angle to Saturn, like now -" she drew a right-angle in the air above her "- that means people need to be extra careful when handling hot things -"**

"I don't think he'll like that." Cris said.

"Nope," Charlie said.

**"****That," said Firenze calmly, "is human nonsense."**

**Parvati's hand fell limply to her side.**

**"****Trivial hurts, tiny human accidents," said Firenze, as his hooves thudded over the mossy floor. "These are of no more significance than the scurrying's of ants to the wide universe, and are unaffected by planetary movements."**

**"****Professor Trelawney -" began Parvati, in a hurt and indignant voice.**

**"****- is a human," said Firenze simply. "And is therefore blinkered and fettered by the limitations of your kind."**

"Ouch," Keiran said. He knew Pavarti and he knew she didn't like that.

**Cris turned her head very slightly to look at Parvati. She looked very offended, as did several of the people surrounding her.**

**"****Sibyll Trelawney may have Seen, I do not know," continued Firenze, and Cris heard the swishing of his tail again as he walked up and down before them, "but she wastes her time, in the main, on the self-flattering nonsense humans call fortune-telling. I, however, am here to explain the wisdom of centaurs, which is impersonal and impartial. We watch the skies for the great tides of evil or change that are sometimes marked there. It may take ten years to be sure of what we are seeing." **

"Then shouldn't they tell people?" Gwen asked.

"They should but some people won't take them seriously, that's because some people think they are better than creatures like centaurs because they are half-breeds and are stupid." Remus said.

"But that's not right," Gwen said.

"I know, it's stupid but that's how some people are." Remus said.

**Firenze pointed to the red star directly above Cris.**

**"****In the past decade, the indications have been that wizard kind is living through nothing more than a brief calm between two wars. Mars, bringer of battle, shines brightly above us, suggesting that the fight must soon break out again.**

"The war will begin soon." Dumbledore said.

"When?" Tonks asked.

"By the end of the book." Keiran said sadly.

**How soon, centaurs may attempt to divine by the burning of certain herbs and leaves, by the observation of fume and flame…"**

**It was the most unusual lesson Cris had ever attended. They did indeed burn sage and mallow sweet there on the classroom floor, and Firenze told them to look for certain shapes and symbols in the pungent fumes, but he seemed perfectly unconcerned that not one of them could see any of the signs he described, telling them that humans were hardly ever good at this, that it took centaurs years and years to become competent, and finished by telling them that it was foolish to put too much faith in such things, anyway, because even centaurs sometimes read them wrongly. He was nothing like any human teacher Cris had ever had. His priority did not seem to be to teach them what he knew, but rather to impress upon them that nothing, not even centaurs' knowledge, was foolproof.**

**"****He's not very definite on anything, is he?" said Ron in a low voice, as they put out their mallow sweet fire. "I mean, I could do with a few more details about this war we're about to have, couldn't you?" **

"Yes, but even war is definite, it could go one way or the other." Bill said.

"Exactly, look at some Muggle Wars; they all could go one way or the other." Hermione said.

"True," Gwen said.

**The bell rang right outside the classroom door and everyone jumped; Cris had completely forgotten they were still inside the castle, and quite convinced that she was really in the Forest.**

**The class filed out, looking slightly perplexed.**

**Cris and Ron were on the point of following them when Firenze called, "Cristal Potter, a word, please."**

"You know, I've always wondered why he uses my full name." Cris said.

"That's just how they are," Charlie said.

**Cris turned. The centaur advanced a little towards her. Ron hesitated.**

**"****You may stay," Firenze told him. "But close the door, please." Ron hastened to obey.**

**"****Cristal Potter, you are a friend of Hagrid's, are you not?" said the centaur. **

"I wonder why he asked." Sirius asked.

"I don't know," Robin said.

**"****Yes," said Cris.**

**"****Then give him a warning from me. His attempt is not working. He would do better to abandon it."**

"Attempt, what attempt?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"I don't know, it hasn't happened yet, or it is happening and we don't know it yet." Hermione said.

"Could it be what's injuring him?" Padfoot asked.

"Probably." Lily said.

**"****His attempt is not working?" Cris repeated blankly.**

**"****And he would do better to abandon it," said Firenze, nodding. "I would warn Hagrid myself, but I am banished - it would be unwise for me to go too near the Forest now - Hagrid has troubles enough, without a centaurs' battle."**

**"****But - what's Hagrid attempting to do?" said Cris nervously.**

"I don't think he'll tell you." Charlie said.

"I could always try." Cris said.

**Firenze surveyed Cris impassively.**

**"****Hagrid has recently rendered me a great service," said Firenze, "and he has long since earned my respect for the care he shows all living creatures. I shall not betray his secret. But he must be brought to his senses. The attempt is not working. Tell him, Cristal Potter. Good-day to you." **

"I hope he listens to you." Lily said.

"Me too," Cris said.

**The happiness Cris had felt in the aftermath of The Quibbler interview had long since evaporated. As a dull March blurred into a squally April, her life seemed to have become one long series of worries and problems again.**

**Umbridge had continued attending all Care of Magical Creatures lessons, so it had been very difficult to deliver Firenze's warning to Hagrid. At last, Cris had managed it by pretending she'd lost her copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and doubling back after class one day.**

"That's a good excuse." Prongs said.

"Not suspicious at all." Padfoot said.

**When she'd repeated Firenze's words, Hagrid gazed at her for a moment through his puffy, blackened eyes, apparently taken aback. Then he seemed to pull himself together.**

"**Nice bloke, Firenze," he said gruffly, "but he don' know what he's talkin' abou' on this. The attemp's comin' on fine."**

"Whatever it is, it's dangerous." Charlie said.

"And a creature too, I wonder what it is." Remus said.

**"****Hagrid, what're you up to?" asked Cris seriously. "Because you've got to be careful, Umbridge has already sacked Trelawney and, if you ask me, she's on a roll. If you're doing anything you shouldn't be, you'll be -"**

**"****There's things more importan' than keepin' a job," said Hagrid, though his hands shook slightly as he said this and a basin full of Knarl droppings crashed to the floor. "Don' worry abou' me, Cris jus' get along now, there's a good lass."**

"Great, when he says that that's a good sign to start worrying." Moony said.

"No kidding," Cris said worrying even more for her first friend.

**Cris had no choice but to leave Hagrid mopping up the dung all over his floor, but she felt thoroughly dispirited as she trudged back up to the castle.**

**Meanwhile, as the teachers and Hermione persisted in reminding them, the OWLs were drawing ever nearer. All the fifth-years were suffering from stress to some degree, but Hannah Abbott became the first to receive a Calming Draught from Madam Pomfrey after she burst into tears during Herbology and sobbed that she was too stupid to take exams and wanted to leave school now.**

"That happens every year." McGonagall said.

"Poor Hannah," Cris and Hermione said.

**If it had not been for the D.A. lessons, Cris thought she would have been extremely unhappy. She sometimes felt she was living for the hours she spent in the Room of Requirement, working hard but thoroughly enjoying herself at the same time, swelling with pride as she looked around at her fellow D.A. members and saw how far they had come. Indeed, Cris sometimes wondered how Umbridge was going to react when all the members of the D.A. received 'Outstanding' in their Defense Against the Dark Arts OWLs.**

"Oohh, I wonder what we got." Hermione said.

"I'm sure we'll find out Mia." Cris said with a laugh.

**They had finally started work on Patronuses, which everybody had been very keen to practice, though, as Cris kept reminding them, producing a Patronus in the middle of a brightly lit classroom when they were not under threat was very different from producing it when confronted by something like a Dementor.**

**"****Oh, don't be such a killjoy," said Cho brightly, watching her silvery swan-shaped Patronus soar around the Room of Requirement during their last lesson before Easter. "They're so pretty!" **

"They're more than pretty; they can save your life." Bill said.

"**They're not supposed to be pretty, they're supposed to protect you," said Cris patiently. "What we really need is a Boggart or something; that's how I learned; I had to conjure a Patronus while the Boggart was pretending to be a Dementor -"**

"**But that would be really scary!" said Lavender, who was shooting puffs of silver vapor out of the end of her wand. "And I still -can't - do it!" she added angrily.**

"Getting angry won't help." Remus said.

**Neville was having trouble, too. His face was screwed up in concentration, but only feeble wisps of silver smoke issued from his wand tip.**

"And I was doing so good." Neville said sadly.

"It takes time." Cris said with a smile.

**"****You've got to think of something happy," Cris reminded him.**

**"****I'm trying," said Neville miserably, who was trying so hard his round face was actually shining with sweat.**

**"****Cris, I think I'm doing it"' yelled Seamus, who had been brought along to his first ever D.A. meeting by Dean. **

"Good, you guys completely made up." Lily said. Cris smiled, she hated fighting with friends and was happy when they make up.

**"****Look - ah -it's gone… but it was definitely something hairy, Cris!"**

**Hermione's Patronus, a shining silver otter, was gamboling around her.**

"An otter?" Hermione asked. "I thought it would be my animagus form."

"It can, but look at Cris, her patronus is a stag yet her animagus form is a cheetah." Remus said.

"It's different for everyone." McGonagall said.

**"They are sort of nice, aren't they?" she said, looking at it fondly.**

**The door of the Room of Requirement opened, and closed. Cris looked round to see who had entered, but there did not seem to be anybody there. It was a few moments before she realized that the people close to the door had fallen silent. Next thing she knew, something was tugging at her robes somewhere near the knee. She looked down and saw, to her very great astonishment, Dobby the house-elf peering up at her from beneath his usual eight woolly hats.**

"What's Dobby doing there?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know," Cris said.

"Maybe giving you a warning." Remus said.

"A warning about what?" Fred asked.

"I don't know," Remus said.

**"****Hi, Dobby!" she said. "What are you - What's wrong?"**

**The elf's eyes were wide with terror and he was shaking. The members of the D.A. closest to Cris had fallen silent; everybody in the room was watching Dobby. The few Patronuses people had managed to conjure faded away into silver mist, leaving the room looking much darker than before.**

**"****Cristal Potter, miss…" squeaked the elf, trembling from head to foot, "Cristal Potter, miss… Dobby has come to warn you… but the house-elves have been warned not to tell…" **

"Damnit, someone told." Charlie said.

"I wonder who." Hermione said.

"My bets are either on Smith or Cho's friend." Ron said.

"Pretty good guesses." Remus said.

**He ran head-first at the wall. Cris, who had some experience of Dobby's habits of self-punishments, made to seize him, but Dobby merely bounced off the stone, cushioned by his eight hats. **

"They're good for something." Hermione said with a smile.

**Hermione and a few of the other girls let out squeaks of fear and sympathy.**

**"****What's happened, Dobby?" Cris asked, grabbing the elf's tiny arm and holding him away from anything with which he might seek to hurt himself.**

**"****Cristal Potter… she… she…"**

**Dobby hit himself hard on the nose with his free fist. Cris seized that, too.**

**"****Who's 'she', Dobby?"**

**But she thought she knew; surely only one 'she' could induce such fear in Dobby? The elf looked up at her, slightly cross-eyed, and mouthed wordlessly.**

**"****Umbridge?" asked Cris, horrified.**

"Damnit!" cursed the room. Umbridge had a satisfied glint in her eyes and catching the brat.

**Dobby nodded, then tried to bang his head on Cris' knees. Cris held him at arm's length.**

**"****What about her? Dobby - she hasn't found out about this - about us - about the D.A.?"**

"If he's there I think it's a good assumption." Sirius said.

"I'm sure I'm just trying to get all the facts." Cris said.

"Yes, but you are also loosing time to get away." Sirius said.

"True," Cris said.

**She read the answer in the elf's stricken face. His hands held fast by Cris, the elf tried to kick himself and fell to the floor.**

**"****Is she coming?" Cris asked quietly.**

**Dobby let out a howl, and began beating his bare feet hard on the floor.**

**"****Yes, Cristal Potter, yes!" **

"Get them out of there." Bill said.

**Cris straightened up and looked around at the motionless, terrified people gazing at the thrashing elf.**

**"****WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Cris bellowed. "RUN!"**

"Finally!" cried the room.

**They all pelted towards the exit at once, forming a scrum at the door, then people burst through. Cris could hear them sprinting along the corridors and hoped they had the sense not to try and make it all the way to their dormitories. It was only ten to nine; if they just took refuge in the library or the Owlery, which were both nearer -**

"I hope they have the sense to do that." Moony said.

"Me too," Cris said.

**"****Cris, come on!" shrieked Hermione from the center of the knot of people now fighting to get out.**

**She scooped up Dobby, who was still attempting to do himself serious injury, and ran with the elf in her arms to join the back of the queue.**

**"****Dobby - this is an order - get back down to the kitchen with the other elves and, if she asks you whether you warned me, lie and say no!" said Cris. "And I forbid you to hurt yourself!" she added, dropping the elf as she made it over the threshold at last and slammed the door behind her.**

**"****Thank you, Cristal Potter!" squeaked Dobby, and he streaked off.**

"Couldn't he have apparated us to our dorms or the library and pretend we've been studying?" Hermione asked.

"I don't honestly know." Remus said.

**Cris glanced left and right, the others were all moving so fast she caught only glimpses of flying heels at either end of the corridor before they vanished; she started to run right; there was a girls' bathroom up ahead, she could pretend she'd been in there all the time if she could just reach it -**

**"****AAARGH!"**

"Damnit!" Sirius cursed.

"What happened?" Lily asked worriedly.

**Something caught her around the ankles and she fell spectacularly, skidding along on her front for six feet before coming to a halt. Someone behind her was laughing. She rolled over on to her back and saw Malfoy concealed in a niche beneath an ugly dragon-shaped vase.**

**"****Trip Jinx, Potter!" he said. "Hey Professor - PROFESSOR! I've got one!"**

"Sorry," Draco said.

"You've changed, this is in the future you can change it." Cris said.

"Yeah Draco, this hasn't happened so no worries." Luna said.

**Umbridge came bustling round the far corner, breathless but wearing a delighted smile.**

"Great, it's the toad." Bill muttered glaring at the one in the room.

**"****It's her!" she said jubilantly at the sight of Cris on the floor. "Excellent, Draco, excellent, oh, very good - fifty points to Slytherin! I'll take her from here… stand up, Potter!"**

**Cris got to her feet, glaring at the pair of them. She had never seen Umbridge looking so happy.**

The group shivered at the thought of the toad being happy.

"I hope I never see it," Cris said.

"You won't this time around." Sirius said. Cris smiled brightly at her godfather as Ron continued to read.

**She seized her arm in a vice-like grip and turned, beaming broadly, to Malfoy.**

**"****You hop along and see if you can round up any more of them, Draco," she said. "Tell the others to look in the library - anybody out of breath - check the bathrooms, Miss Parkinson can do the girls' ones - off you go - and you," she added in her softest, most dangerous voice, as Malfoy walked away, "you can come with me to the Headmasters office, Potter."**

"Hopefully he'll be able to help you." Prongs said.

"Well technically they did nothing wrong, but honestly she probably won't care." Sirius said.

**They were at the stone gargoyle within minutes. Cris wondered how many of the others had been caught. She thought of Ron - Mrs. Weasley would kill him - and of how Hermione would feel if she was expelled before she could take her OWLs. And it had been Seamus's very first meeting… and Neville had been getting so good… **

"I hope I improve more," Neville said.

"I'm sure you will." Cris said.

**"****Fizzing Whizzbee," sang Umbridge; the stone gargoyle jumped aside, the wall behind split open, and they ascended the moving stone staircase. They reached the polished door with the griffin knocker, but Umbridge did not bother to knock, she strode straight inside, still holding tight to Cris.**

**The office was full of people. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, his expression serene, the tips of his long fingers together. Professor McGonagall stood rigidly beside him, her face extremely tense. Cornelius Fudge,**

"Great he was in there." Charlie said.

**Minister for Magic, was rocking backwards and forwards on his toes beside the fire, apparently immensely pleased with the situation; Kingsley Shacklebolt**

"Good, he's on your side." Padfoot said.

"But I have to pretend to be on the Minister's side." Kingsley reminded him.

"Right," Padfoot said.

**and a tough-looking wizard with very short wiry hair whom Cris did not recognize, **

"Sounds like Dawlish." Tonks said.

**were positioned on either side of the door like guards, and the freckled, bespectacled form of Percy Weasley hovered excitedly beside the wall, a quill and a heavy scroll of parchment in his hands, apparently poised to take notes.**

Percy turned as red as his hair, but now knowing the truth his view on Cris was different.

**The portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses were not shamming sleep tonight. All of them were alert and serious, watching what was happening below them. As Cris entered, a few flitted into neighboring frames and whispered urgently into their neighbor's ear.**

**Cris pulled herself free of Umbridge's grasp as the door swung shut behind them. Cornelius Fudge was glaring at her with a kind of vicious satisfaction on his face. **

"Are you really that paranoid to blame her for everything? She is trying to protect herself and help others to do so. How in the world did you get that job in the first place?" Lily asked glaring at him.

"I can't wait until you're fired, and you will be when the truth gets out." Prongs said. Fudge paled, he will be fired, and people will know that they have been covering everything up.

**"****Well," he said. "Well, well, well…"**

**Cris replied with the dirtiest look she could muster. Her heart drummed madly inside her, but her brain was oddly cool and clear.**

**"She was heading back to Gryffindor Tower," said Umbridge. There was an indecent excitement in her voice, the same callous pleasure Cris had heard as she watched Professor Trelawney dissolving with misery in the Entrance Hall. "The Malfoy boy cornered her."**

**"****Did he, did he?" said Fudge appreciatively. "I must remember to tell Lucius. Well, Potter… I expect you know why you are here?"**

**Cris fully intended to respond with a defiant 'yes': her mouth had opened and the word was half-formed when she caught sight of Dumbledore's face. Dumbledore was not looking directly at Cris - his eyes were fixed on a point just over his shoulder – **

"What is up with that?" Prongs asked.

"It might have to do with the visions." Moony said.

"I hope it's that simple." Prongs said.

**but as Cris stared at him, he shook his head a fraction of an inch to each side.**

**Cris changed her mind.**

**"****No."**

"That a girl." Sirius said.

"I'm not a dog." Cris said.

"No you're not," Sirius said with a smile.

**"****I beg your pardon?" said Fudge.**

**"****No," said Cris, firmly.**

**"****You don't know why you are here?"**

**"****No, I don't," said Cris.**

**Fudge looked incredulously from Cris to Professor Umbridge. Cris took advantage of her momentary inattention to steal another quick look at Dumbledore, who gave the carpet the tiniest of nods and the shadow of a wink.**

"Good, at least you there to tell her it's the right thing to do." Moony murmured.

**"****So you have no idea," said Fudge, in a voice positively sagging with sarcasm, "why Professor Umbridge has brought you to this office? You are not aware that you have broken any school rules?"**

**"****School rules?" said Cris. "No."**

"Well maybe some, but nothing too bad." Sirius said.

**"****Or Ministry Decrees?" amended Fudge angrily.**

"Nope, gotta love loopholes." Charlie said with a smile.

**"****Not that I'm aware of," said Cris blandly.**

**Her heart was still hammering very fast. It was almost worth telling these lies to watch Fudges blood pressure rising, but she could not see how on earth she would get away with them; if somebody had tipped off Umbridge about the D.A. then she, the leader, might as well be packing her trunk right now.**

"Don't think that pup." Sirius said.

"I'll try not to." Cris said with a smile.

**"****So, it's news to you, is it," said Fudge, his voice now thick with anger, "that an illegal student organization has been discovered within this school?"**

**"****Yes, it is," said Cris, hoisting an unconvincing look of innocent surprise on to her face. **

"Oh Cris, I really need to teach you how to lie better." Sirius said.

"Alright Siri," Cris said with a laugh.

**"****I think, Minister," said Umbridge silkily from beside her, "we might make better progress if I fetch our informant."**

**"****Yes, yes, do," said Fudge, nodding, and he glanced maliciously at Dumbledore as Umbridge left the room. "There's nothing like a good witness, is there, Dumbledore?"**

**"****Nothing at all, Cornelius," said Dumbledore gravely, inclining his head.**

**There was a wait of several minutes, in which nobody looked at each other, then Cris heard the door open behind him. Umbridge moved past her into the room, gripping by the shoulder Cho's curly-haired friend, Marietta, who was hiding her face in her hands.**

"Damn, I knew it was her." Sirius said.

"Well we thought it was either her or Smith." Remus said.

**"Don't be scared, dear, don't be frightened," said Professor Umbridge softly, patting her on the back, "it's quite all right, now. You have done the right thing. The Minister is very pleased with you. He'll be telling your mother what a good girl you've been.**

"Come on, she isn't five years old." Tonks scoffed.

**"Marietta's mother, Minister," she added, looking up at Fudge, "is Madam Edgecombe from the Department of Magical Transportation, Floo Network office - she's been helping us police the Hogwarts fires, you know."**

**"****Jolly good, jolly good!" said Fudge heartily. "Like mother, like daughter, eh? Well, come on, now, dear, look up, don't be shy, let's hear what you've got to - galloping gargoyles!"**

"What happened?" Padfoot asked bouncing in his seat.

**As Marietta raised her head, Fudge leapt backwards in shock, nearly landing himself in the fire.**

**He cursed, and stamped on the hem of his cloak which had started to smoke. Marietta gave a wail and pulled the neck of her robes right up to her eyes, but not before everyone had seen that her face was horribly disfigured by a series of close-set purple pustules that had spread across her nose and cheeks to form the word SNEAK.**

"Nice!" the twins said high-fiving Hermione.

"That's awesome!" the marauders cried.

**"****Never mind the spots now, dear," said Umbridge impatiently, "just take your robes away from your mouth and tell the Minister -"**

**But Marietta gave another muffled wail and shook her head frantically.**

**"****Oh, very well, you silly girl, I'll tell him," snapped Umbridge. She hitched her sickly smile back on to her face and said, "Well, Minister, Miss Edgecombe here came to my office shortly after dinner this evening and told me she had something she wanted to tell me. She said that if I proceeded to a secret room on the seventh floor, sometimes known as the Room of Requirement, I would find out something to my advantage. I questioned her a little further and she admitted that there was to be some kind of meeting there. Unfortunately, at that point this hex," she waved impatiently at Marietta's concealed face, "came into operation and upon catching sight of her face in my mirror the girl became too distressed to tell me anymore."**

"Good," Hermione said, "it worked."

**"****Well, now," said Fudge, fixing Marietta with what he evidently imagined was a kind and fatherly look, "it is very brave of you, my dear, coming to tell Professor Umbridge. You did exactly the right thing. Now, will you tell me what happened at this meeting? What was its purpose? Who was there?"**

**But Marietta would not speak; she merely shook her head again, her eyes wide and fearful.**

**"****Haven't we got a counter-jinx for this?" Fudge asked Umbridge impatiently, gesturing at Marietta's face. "So she can speak freely?"**

**"****I have not yet managed to find one," Umbridge admitted grudgingly, and Cris felt a surge of pride in Hermione's jinxing ability.**

"Is there a counter-jinx?" Tonks asked.

"Nope, it will just go away after a while." Hermione said.

"Good," Sirius said.

**"****But it doesn't matter if she won't speak, I can take up the story from here."**

**"****You will remember, Minister, that I sent you a report back in October that Potter had met a number of fellow students in the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade -"**

**"****And what is your evidence for that?" cut in Professor McGonagall.**

**"****I have testimony from Willy Widdershins, Minerva, who happened to be in the bar at the time. He was heavily bandaged, it is true, but his hearing was quite unimpaired," said Umbridge smugly.**

"And that's why you need to go to a more crowded place, less people to overhear." Sirius said.

"I've learned." Hermione said.

**"He heard every word Potter said and hastened straight to the school to report to me -"**

**"****Oh, so that's why he wasn't prosecuted for setting up all those regurgitating toilets!" said Professor McGonagall, raising her eyebrows. "What an interesting insight into our justice system!"**

"So that's why he got off," Mr. Weasley said angrily. Amelia looked at the Minister and Umbridge who sat begrudgingly in her chair knowing that her career is over when this was all over.

**"****Blatant corruption!" roared the portrait of the corpulent, red-nosed wizard on the wall behind Dumbledore's desk.**

**"****The Ministry did not cut deals with petty criminals in my day, no sir, they did not!"**

**"****Thank you, Fortescue, that will do," said Dumbledore softly.**

**"****The purpose of Potter's meeting with these students," continued Professor Umbridge, "was to persuade them to join an illegal society, whose aim was to learn spells and curses the Ministry has decided are inappropriate for school-age -"**

"They were all appropriate and all on the OWL exams." Remus said.

"Yep, spells that are very useful as well." Cris said.

"That is very good Miss Potter." Amelia said with a smile.

**"****I think you'll find you're wrong there, Dolores," said Dumbledore quietly, peering at her over the half-moon spectacles perched halfway down his crooked nose.**

**Cris stared at him. She could not see how Dumbledore was going to talk her out of this one; if Willy Widdershins had indeed heard every word she had said in the Hog's Head there was simply no escaping it.**

"But he could say that this is the first meeting." Sirius said.

"Yeah, he could." Cris said with a thoughtful look.

**"****Oho!" said Fudge, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet again. "Yes, do let's hear the latest cock-and-bull story designed to pull Potter out of trouble! Go on, then, Dumbledore, go on - Willy Widdershins was lying, was he? Or was it Potters identical twin in the Hog's Head that day? Or is there the usual simple explanation involving a reversal of time, a dead man coming back to life and a couple of invisible Dementors?"**

**Percy Weasley let out a hearty laugh.**

**"****Oh, very good, Minister, very good!"**

"Um Percy, that wasn't a joke." George said.

"Those things actually happened and the minister is just too stupid to see it." Fred said.

"How dare you!" Umbridge shrieked.

"Oh shut you hag, you know it's true, all of you are just using Cris as a scapegoat just because you don't like the truth." George said.

"Well here's something, you aren't supposed to like the truth." Fred said.

"Well said Messers Weasley." Dumbledore said.

**Cris could have kicked him. **

"Oh how I wish, maybe that'll talk some sense into him." Cris said.

**Then she saw, to her astonishment, that Dumbledore was smiling gently, too.**

**"****Cornelius, I do not deny - and nor, I am sure, does Cris - that she was in the Hog's Head that day, nor that she was trying to recruit students to a Defense Against the Dark Arts group. I am merely pointing out that Dolores is quite wrong to suggest that such a group was, at that time, illegal. If you remember, the Ministry Decree banning all student societies was not put into effect until two days after Cris' Hogsmeade meeting, so she was not breaking any rules at all in the Hog's Head."**

"Oohh, burn." The twins said.

**Percy looked as though he had been struck in the face by something very heavy.**

Percy blushed brightly at that, how blinded had he been to not trust his parents, they never lead him astray.

**Fudge remained motionless in mid-bounce, his mouth hanging open.**

"You can't say anything about it, because it wasn't against the rules." Sirius said smugly.

**Umbridge recovered first.**

**"****That's all very fine, Headmaster," she said, smiling sweetly, "but we are now nearly six months on from the introduction of Educational Decree Number Twenty-four. If the first meeting was not illegal, all those that have happened since most certainly are."**

"Ah, but where's the proof?" Charlie asked.

"There is no proof." Cris said with a smile.

"But there is these books." Umbridge said.

"Yeah, and who is going to believe you learned the truth from a book that shouldn't even exist?" Cris asked triumphantly. Umbridge glared and sat back in her chair.

**"****Well," said Dumbledore, surveying her with polite interest over the top of his interlocked fingers, "they certainly would be, if they had continued after the Decree came into effect. Do you have any evidence that any such meetings continued?"**

**As Dumbledore spoke, Cris heard a rustle behind her and rather thought Kingsley whispered something. She could have sworn, too, that she felt something brush against her side, a gentle something like a draught or bird wings, but looking down she saw nothing there.**

"What was that?" Cris asked.

"I'm sure you'll find out." Kingsley said with a smile.

"I hope so." Cris said.

**"****Evidence?" repeated Umbridge, with that horrible wide toad-like smile. "Have you not been listening, Dumbledore? Why do you think Miss Edgecombe is here?"**

**"****Oh, can she tell us about six months' worth of meetings?" said Dumbledore, raising his eyebrows. "I was under the impression that she was merely reporting a meeting tonight."**

**"****Miss Edgecombe," said Umbridge at once, "tell us how long these meetings have been going on, dear. You can simply nod or shake your head, I'm sure that won't make the spots worse. **

"Will it?" Remus asked.

"We shall see." Hermione said.

**Have they been happening regularly over the last six months?"**

**Cris felt a horrible plummeting in her stomach. This was it, they had hit a dead end of solid evidence that not even Dumbledore would be able to shift aside.**

**"****Just nod or shake your head, dear," Umbridge said coaxingly to Marietta, "come on, now, that won't re-activate the jinx."**

"Will it?" Fred asked.

"It would have." Hermione said.

"Sweet." George said.

**Everyone in the room was gazing at the top of Marietta's face. Only her eyes were visible between the pulled-up robes and her curly fringe. Perhaps it was a trick of the firelight, but her eyes looked oddly blank.**

"You didn't." Sirius said to Kingsley.

"I probably did." Kingsley said.

"What did he do?" Gwen asked.

"He motified her memory of the meetings." Remus said.

"Sweet," Ron said.

**And then - to Cris' utter amazement - Marietta shook her head.**

"I did do it." Kingsley said.

"Awesome." The students said.

**Umbridge looked quickly at Fudge, then back at Marietta.**

**"****I don't think you understood the question, did you, dear? I'm asking whether you've been going to these meetings for the past six months? You have, haven't you?"**

**Again, Marietta shook her head.**

"Thank you Kingsley!" the trio called. Kingsley smiled and nodded at them though it hadn't happened yet.

**"****What do you mean by shaking your head, dear?" said Umbridge in a testy voice.**

**"****I would have thought her meaning was quite clear," said Professor McGonagall harshly, "there have been no secret meetings for the past six months. Is that correct, Miss Edgecombe?"**

**Marietta nodded.**

**"****But there was a meeting tonight!" said Umbridge furiously. "There was a meeting, Miss Edgecombe, you told me about it, in the Room of Requirement! And Potter was the leader, was she not, Potter organized it, Potter - why are you shaking your head, girl?"**

**"****Well, usually when a person shakes their head," said McGonagall coldly, "they mean 'no'. So unless Miss Edgecombe is using a form of sign-language as yet unknown to humans -"**

"Good one Minnie!" cried the Marauders.

"I thought I was done with that nickname." McGonagall said.

**Professor Umbridge seized Marietta, pulled her round to face her and began shaking her very hard. A split second later Dumbledore was on his feet, his wand raised; Kingsley started forwards and Umbridge leapt back from Marietta, waving her hands in the air as though they had been burned.**

**"****I cannot allow you to manhandle my students, Dolores," said Dumbledore and, for the first time, he looked angry.**

"And if I had known about the detentions she would have been gone right away." Dumbledore said.

"Sorry," Cris said.

"It's okay my dear, you thought if you did go to me you would be doing what she wanted you to do." Dumbledore said.

**"****You want to calm yourself, Madam Umbridge," said Kingsley, in his deep, slow voice. "You don't want to get yourself into trouble, now."**

"She's in trouble already." Amelia said.

**"****No," said Umbridge breathlessly, glancing up at the towering figure of Kingsley. "I mean, yes - you're right, Shacklebolt - I - I forgot myself."**

**Marietta was standing exactly where Umbridge had released her. She seemed neither perturbed by Umbridge's sudden attack, nor relieved by her release; she was still clutching her robe up to her oddly blank eyes and staring straight ahead of her.**

**A sudden suspicion, connected to Kingsley's whisper and the thing she had felt shoot past her, sprang into Cris' mind.**

"Took you long enough." Lily said.

"At least I got it." Cris said with a smile to her mom.

**"****Dolores," said Fudge, with the air of trying to settle something once and for all, "the meeting tonight - the one we know definitely happened -"**

**"****Yes," said Umbridge, pulling herself together, "yes… well, Miss Edgecombe tipped me off and I proceeded at once to the seventh floor, accompanied by certain trustworthy students, so as to catch those in the meeting red-handed. It appears that they were forewarned of my arrival, however, because when we reached the seventh floor they were running in every direction. It does not matter, however. I have all their names here, Miss Parkinson ran into the Room of Requirement for me to see if they had left anything behind. We needed evidence and the room provided."**

**And to Cris' horror, she withdrew from her pocket the list of names that had been pinned upon the Room of Requirement's wall and handed it to Fudge. **

"How did she get in?" Hermione asked wide eyed.

"The door should have disappeared after I left." Cris said.

"I should have spelled the list to be blank for those who aren't on the list." Hermione said. She got a look in her eyes and nudged Ron to read on.

**"****The moment I saw Potter's name on the list, I knew what we were dealing with," she said softly.**

**"****Excellent," said Fudge, a smile spreading across his face, "excellent, Dolores. And… by thunder…"**

**He looked up at Dumbledore, who was still standing beside Marietta, his wand held loosely in his hand.**

**"See what they've named themselves?" said Fudge quietly. "Dumbledore's Army."**

**Dumbledore reached out and took the piece of parchment from Fudge. He gazed at the heading scribbled by Hermione months before and for a moment seemed unable to speak. Then he looked up, smiling.**

**"****Well, the game is up," he said simply. "Would you like a written confession from me, Cornelius - or will a statement before these witnesses suffice?"**

"You're taking the blame?" Cris asked wide eyed.

"Of course," Dumbledore said simply.

**Cris saw McGonagall and Kingsley look at each other. There was fear in both faces. She did not understand what was going on, and nor, apparently, did Fudge.**

"And I thought you took after Lily." Prongs said.

"Obviously she has some of her father's brains as well." Lily said with a smile.

**"****Statement?" said Fudge slowly. "What - I don't -?"**

**"****Dumbledore's Army, Cornelius," said Dumbledore, still smiling as he waved the list of names before Fudge's face. "Not Potter's Army. Dumbledore's Army."**

**"****But - but -"**

**Understanding blazed suddenly in Fudges face. He took a horrified step backwards, yelped, and jumped out of the fire again.**

**"****You?" he whispered, stamping again on his smoldering cloak.**

"Wow, you're slow." Gwen said.

"No kidding," Viktor whispered.

**"****That's right," said Dumbledore pleasantly.**

"Something bad is going to happen isn't?" Lily asked.

"Probably," Prongs said.

**"****You organized this?"**

**"****I did," said Dumbledore.**

**"****You recruited these students for - for your army?"**

**"****Tonight was supposed to be the first meeting," said Dumbledore, nodding. "Merely to see whether they would be interested in joining me. I see now that it was a mistake to invite Miss Edgecombe, of course."**

**Marietta nodded. Fudge looked from her to Dumbledore, his chest swelling.**

**"****Then you have been plotting against me!" he yelled.**

**"****That's right," said Dumbledore cheerfully.**

"Well not quite, just teaching students how to defend themselves." Bill said.

"You know, I bet Cris can beat Fudge in a duel." George said.

"Trouble, stop talking," Cris said.

"Yes, ma'am." George said.

**"****NO!" shouted Cris.**

**Kingsley flashed a look of warning at her, McGonagall widened her eyes threateningly, but it had suddenly dawned on Cris what Dumbledore was about to do, and she could not let it happen.**

"Cris, just let him do what he needs to do." Remus said.

"But it wasn't him." Cris said.

"We know, but still let Dumbledore do what he wants." Sirius said. Cris nodded and Ron continued reading.

**"****No — Professor Dumbledore -!"**

**"****Be quiet, Cris, or I am afraid you will have to leave my office," said Dumbledore calmly.**

**"****Yes, shut up, Potter!" barked Fudge, who was still ogling Dumbledore with a kind of horrified delight. "Well, well, well - I came here tonight expecting to expel Potter and instead -"**

**"****Instead you get to arrest me," said Dumbledore, smiling. "It's like losing a Knut and finding a Galleon, isn't it?"**

**"****Weasley!" cried Fudge, now positively quivering with delight, "Weasley, have you written it all down, everything he's said, his confession, have you got it?"**

**"****Yes, sir, I think so, sir!" said Percy eagerly, whose nose was splattered with ink from the speed of his note-taking.**

Percy shifted uncomfortably and looked at his family.

**"****The bit about how he's been trying to build up an army against the Ministry, how he's been working to destabilize me?"**

**"****Yes, sir, I've got it, yes!" said Percy, scanning his notes joyfully.**

**"****Very well, then," said Fudge, now radiant with glee, "duplicate your notes, Weasley, and send a copy to the Daily Prophet at once. If we send a fast owl we should make the morning edition!"**

"Wow, is thought all you care about?" Gwen asked.

"Of course it is, he doesn't like anything or anyone getting in his way." Cris snapped glaring at the minister.

**Percy dashed from the room, slamming the door behind him, and Fudge turned back to Dumbledore. "You will now be escorted back to the Ministry, where you will be formally charged, then sent to Azkaban to await trial!"**

**"****Ah," said Dumbledore gently, "yes. Yes, I thought we might hit that little snag."**

**"****Snag?" said Fudge, his voice still vibrating with joy. "I see no snag, Dumbledore!" **

"Ah, but he's Dumbledore, he won't go quietly." Keiran said.

"Exactly," said most of the room.

**"****Well," said Dumbledore apologetically, "I'm afraid I do."**

**"****Oh, really?"**

**"****Well - it's just that you seem to be laboring under the delusion that I am going to - what is the phrase? - come quietly. I am afraid I am not going to come quietly at all, Cornelius. I have absolutely no intention of being sent to Azkaban. I could break out, of course - but what a waste of time, and frankly, I can think of a whole host of things I would rather be doing."**

The room chuckled at that, of course that's the kind of thing Dumbledore would say.

**Umbridge's face was growing steadily redder; she looked as though she was being filled with boiling water. Fudge stared at Dumbledore with a very silly expression on his face, as though he had just been stunned by a sudden blow and could not quite believe it had happened. He made a small choking noise, then looked round at Kingsley and the man with short grey hair, who alone of everyone in the room had remained entirely silent so far. The latter gave Fudge a reassuring nod and moved forwards a little, away from the wall. Cris saw his hand drift, almost casually, towards his pocket.**

**"****Don't be silly, Dawlish," said Dumbledore kindly. "I'm sure you are an excellent Auror - I seem to remember that you achieved 'Outstanding' in all your NEWT s — but if you attempt to — er — bring me in by force, I will have to hurt you."**

"And he doesn't want to do that." McGonagall said.

**The man called Dawlish blinked rather foolishly. He looked towards Fudge again, but this time seemed to be hoping for a clue as to what to do next.**

**"****So," sneered Fudge, recovering himself, "you intend to take on Dawlish, Shacklebolt, Dolores and myself single-handed, do you, Dumbledore?" **

"So it would be three on three, pretty even matched." Remus said.

"That is if Minnie and Kingsley join in." Sirius said.

**"****Merlin's beard, no," said Dumbledore, smiling, "not unless you are foolish enough to force me to."**

**"He will not be single-handed!" said Professor McGonagall loudly, plunging her hand inside her robes.**

**"****Oh yes he will, Minerva!" said Dumbledore sharply. "Hogwarts needs you!"**

"Yeah, we need people in the Order protecting the students." Mrs. Weasley said.

**"****Enough of this rubbish!" said Fudge, pulling out his own wand. "Dawlish! Shacklebolt! Take him!"**

**A streak of silver light flashed around the room; there was a bang like a gunshot and the floor trembled; a hand grabbed the scruff of Cris' neck and forced her down on the floor as a second silver flash went off; several of the portraits yelled, Fawkes screeched and a cloud of dust filled the air. Coughing in the dust, Cris saw a dark figure fall to the ground with a crash in front of her; there was a shriek and a thud and somebody cried, "No!"; then there was the sound of breaking glass, frantically scuffling footsteps, a groan… and silence.**

"What just happened?" Gwen asked.

"I have no idea." Cris said.

"We're about to find out." Hermione said.

**Cris struggled around to see who was half-strangling her and saw Professor McGonagall crouched beside her; she had forced both her and Marietta out of harm's way.**

"Good," Lily said.

**Dust was still floating gently down through the air on to them. Panting slightly, Cris saw a very tall figure moving towards them.**

**"****Are you all right?" Dumbledore asked.**

**"****Yes!" said Professor McGonagall, getting up and dragging Cris and Marietta with her.**

**The dust was clearing. The wreckage of the office loomed into view: Dumbledore's desk had been overturned, all of the spindly tables had been knocked to the floor, their silver instruments in pieces. Fudge, Umbridge, Kingsley and Dawlish lay motionless on the floor. Fawkes the phoenix soared in wide circles above them, singing softly.**

**"Unfortunately, I had to hex Kingsley too, or it would have looked very suspicious," said Dumbledore in a low voice.**

"I understand sir," Kingsley said.

**"He was remarkably quick on the uptake, modifying Miss Edgecombe's memory like that while everyone was looking the other way - thank him, for me, won't you, Minerva?**

**"****Now, they will all awake very soon and it will be best if they do not know that we had time to communicate - you must act as though no time has passed, as though they were merely knocked to the ground, they will not remember -"**

**"****Where will you go, Dumbledore?" whispered Professor McGonagall. "Grimmauld Place?"**

"If he did I would probably hex him." Sirius said quietly.

**"****Oh no," said Dumbledore, with a grim smile, "I am not leaving to go into hiding. Fudge will soon wish he'd never dislodged me from Hogwarts, I promise you."**

**"****Professor Dumbledore…" Cris began.**

**She did not know what to say first: how sorry she was that she had started the D.A. in the first place and caused all this trouble, or how terrible she felt that Dumbledore was leaving to save her from expulsion? But Dumbledore cut her off before she could say another word.**

**"****Listen to me, Cris," he said urgently. "You must study Occlumency as hard as you can, do you understand me? Do everything Professor Snape tells you and practice it particularly every night before sleeping so that you can close your mind to bad dreams - you will understand why soon enough, but you must promise me -" **

"Just tell her!" Sirius, Remus and Robin said.

"Tell me what?" Cris asked. They opened their mouths to explain but Dumbledore cut them off.

"I'm sure the book will say." Dumbledore said.

"But she has the right to know." Sirius said.

"And she will." Dumbledore said.

**The man called Dawlish was stirring. Dumbledore seized Cris' wrist.**

**"Remember - close your mind -"**

"I hope you put more of an effort to it." Lily said.

"Me too," Cris said.

**But as Dumbledore's fingers closed over Cris' skin, a pain shot through the scar on her forehead and she felt again that terrible, snakelike longing to strike Dumbledore, to bite him, to hurt him -**

**"- you will understand," whispered Dumbledore.**

**Fawkes circled the office and swooped low over him. Dumbledore released Cris, raised his hand and grasped the phoenix's long golden tail. There was a flash of fire and the pair of them were gone. **

"That is awesome!" the room shouted.

"You sure know how to make an exit." Kingsley said. Dumbledore just chuckled and Ron continued reading.

**"Where is he?" yelled Fudge, pushing himself up from the floor. "Where is he?"**

**"I don't know!" shouted Kingsley, also leaping to his feet.**

**"Well, he can't have Disapparated!" cried Umbridge. "You can't do it from inside this school -"**

"Well it is Dumbledore." Kingsley said.

"Very true," Tonks said.

**"The stairs!" cried Dawlish, and he flung himself upon the door, wrenched it open and disappeared, followed closely by Kingsley and Umbridge. Fudge hesitated, then got slowly to his feet, brushing dust from his front. There was a long and painful silence.**

**"Well, Minerva," said Fudge nastily, straightening his torn shirtsleeve, "I'm afraid this is the end of your friend Dumbledore."**

"No it isn't," the room said.

**"You think so, do you?" said Professor McGonagall scornfully.**

**Fudge seemed not to hear her. He was looking around at the wrecked office. A few of the portraits hissed at him; one or two even made rude hand gestures.**

**"You'd better get those two off to bed," said Fudge, looking back at Professor McGonagall with a dismissive nod towards Cris and Marietta.**

"Wow, she didn't say anything." Ron said.

"I'm surprised she didn't as well." Hermione said.

"I'm glad she didn't." Cris said.

**Professor McGonagall said nothing, but marched Cris and Marietta to the door. As it swung closed behind them, Cris heard Phineas Nigellus's voice.**

**"You know, Minister, I disagree with Dumbledore on many counts… but you cannot deny he's got style…"**

"Well, I think that is the one time my distant relative told the truth." Sirius said.

"That's the chapter." Ron said. He handed it to Ginny so she could start the next chapter.


	30. Chapter 28: Snape's Worst Memory

Ginny looked at the title of the chapter with a confused expression on her face.

"What is it Gin?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing," Ginny said, **"Chapter 28: Snape's Worst Memory," **

Snape paled, wondering what this was going to be. The Marauders looked at each other wondering the same thing.

**BY ORDER OF THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC**

**Dolores Jane Umbridge (High Inquisitor) has replaced Albus Dumbledore as Head of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.**

"NOOOO!" exclaimed more than half the room.

"We're screwed." The students said.

"This is not going to be fun at all." Cris said.

**The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-eight.**

**Signed: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic**

**The notices had gone up all around the school overnight, but they did not explain how every single person within the castle seemed to know that Dumbledore had overcome two Aurors, the High Inquisitor, the Minister for Magic and his Junior Assistant to escape. No matter where Cris went within the castle, the sole topic of conversation was Dumbledore's flight, and though some of the details may have gone awry in the retelling (Cris overheard one second-year girl assuring another that Fudge was now lying in St. Mungo's with a pumpkin for a head) it was surprising how accurate the rest of their information was. Everybody knew, for instance, that Cris and Marietta were the only students to have witnessed the scene in Dumbledore's office and, as Marietta was now in the hospital wing, Cris found herself besieged with requests to give a first-hand account.**

**"Dumbledore will be back before long," said Ernie Macmillan confidently on the way back from Herbology, after listening intently to Cris' story. "They couldn't keep him away in our second year and they won't be able to this time. The Fat Friar told me -" he dropped his voice conspiratorially, so that Cris, Ron and Hermione had to lean closer to him to hear "- that Umbridge tried to get back into his office last night after they'd searched the castle and grounds for him. Couldn't get past the gargoyle. The Head's office has sealed itself against her." Ernie smirked. "Apparently she had a right little tantrum."**

"That just means that she isn't a valid head." Sirius said.

"It decides who's valid?" Gwen asked.

"It's a magical school, it can." Remus said.

**"****Oh, I expect she really fancied herself sitting up there in the Heads office," said Hermione viciously, as they walked up the stone steps into the Entrance Hall. "Lording it over all the other teachers, the stupid puffed-up, power-crazy old -"**

"Cow,"

"Bitch,"

"Coward,"

"Bastard,"

The Marauders were the ones who supplied these insults which made most of the room laugh.

**"****Now, do you really want to finish that sentence, Granger?"**

"What am I doing now?" Draco asked.

"I have no idea." Cris said.

"Probably being an idiot." Ron said.

"Probably," Draco said.

**Draco Malfoy had slid out from behind the door, closely followed by Crabbe and Goyle. His pale, pointed face was alight with malice.**

**"****Afraid I'm going to have to dock a few points from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff," he drawled. **

"Wait, wait, wait, you can only take points from your own house." Draco said surprisingly.

"I don't like the sound of this." Hermione said.

"Me neither." Cris said.

**"****It's only teachers who can dock points from houses, Malfoy," said Ernie at once.**

**"****Yeah, we're prefects, too, remember?" snarled Ron.**

**"****I know prefects can't dock points, Weasel King," sneered Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle sniggered.**

**"****But members of the Inquisitorial Squad -"**

"What's that?" the room asked.

"She didn't," Cris and Hermione said.

"Didn't what?" Ron asked.

"I'm sure it'll say if we're right." Cris said.

**"****The what!" said Hermione sharply.**

**"****The Inquisitorial Squad, Granger," said Malfoy, pointing towards a tiny silver 'I' on his robes just beneath his prefect's badge. "A select group of students who are supportive of the Ministry of Magic, hand-picked by Professor Umbridge.**

"So basically all Slytherins." Cris said.

"That's what I'm thinking; this is not going to be good." Remus said.

**Anyway, members of the Inquisitorial Squad do have the power to dock points… so, Granger; I'll have five from you for being rude about our new Headmistress. Macmillan, five for contradicting me. Five because I don't like you, Potter.**

"Wow, I'm being a really huge dick." Draco said.

"No kidding," Cris said.

**Weasley, your shirts untucked, so I'll have another five for that. Oh yeah, I forgot, you're a Mudblood, Granger, so ten off for that."**

The room started growling at the book and Draco really wish he could vanish right about now.

**Ron pulled out his wand, but Hermione pushed it away, whispering, "Don't!"**

**"****Wise move, Granger," breathed Malfoy. "New Head, new times… be good now, Potty… Weasel King…"**

"Really original, you need to come up with new insults." Sirius said.

**Laughing heartily, he strode away with Crabbe and Goyle.**

**"****He was bluffing," said Ernie, looking appalled. "He can't be allowed to dock points… that would be ridiculous… it would completely undermine the prefect system." **

"I hope so, but I think that is the point." Tonks said.

**But Cris, Ron and Hermione had turned automatically towards the giant hour-glasses set in niches along the wall behind them, which recorded the house-points. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had been neck and neck in the lead that morning. Even as they watched, stones flew upwards, reducing the amounts in the lower bulbs. In fact, the only glass that seemed unchanged was the emerald-filled one of Slytherin.**

"Why do I have the feeling that she is being prejudice towards everyone else?" Lily asked.

"Because that is exactly what she is doing." McGonagall said glaring at Umbridge who just sat there with a satisfied smile on her face.

**"****Noticed, have you?" said Fred's voice. He and George had just come down the marble staircase and joined Cris, Ron, Hermione and Ernie in front of the hour-glasses. Fred and George hugged Cris and kissed her head as they joined the little group.**

**"****Malfoy just docked us all about fifty points," said Cris furiously, as they watched several more stones fly upwards from the Gryffindor hour-glass.**

**"****Yeah, Montague tried to do us during break," said George.**

"Tried?" Fred asked.

"I wonder what we did." George said.

"Oh, whatever it is I can't wait." Prongs said.

**"****What do you mean, 'tried'?" said Ron quickly.**

**"****He never managed to get all the words out," said Fred, "due to the fact that we forced him headfirst into that Vanishing Cabinet on the first floor."**

"Nice," the marauders said as the twins high-fived each other.

"Fred! George! He could be anyone!" Mrs. Weasley screeched.

"I'm sure he'll be alright, but he'll know not to mess with us ever again." Fred said.

"Right," George said agreeing with his twin.

**Hermione looked very shocked.**

**"****But you'll get into terrible trouble!"**

**"****Not until Montague reappears, and that could take weeks, I dunno where we sent him," said Fred coolly. **

"I hope he comes out alright." Lily said.

"He does, just not where you'd expect him to be." Teddy said with a laugh.

**"****Anyway… we've decided we don't care about getting into trouble anymore."**

"I thought you didn't care in the first place." Ginny said.

"Well, I guess now we're just admitting it." Fred said.

"I wouldn't care either if we were in your place." Prongs said.

"You still didn't care." Moony said.

"True," Padfoot and Prongs said.

**"****Have you ever?" asked Hermione.**

**"****Course we have," said George. "Never been expelled, have we?"**

"That is true, though you've come close." McGonagall said.

"We still haven't," the twins said with a smile.

**"****We've always known where to draw the line," said Fred.**

**"****We might have put a toe across it occasionally," said George.**

**"****But we've always stopped short of causing real mayhem," said Fred.**

**"****But now?" said Ron tentatively.**

**"****Well, now -" said George.**

**"****- what with Dumbledore gone -" said Fred.**

**"****- we reckon a bit of mayhem —" said George.**

**"— ****is exactly what our dear new Head deserves," said Fred.**

"Yes!" cried the room.

"Oh, I can't wait to find out about this." Sirius said.

"This is going to be fun." Padfoot and Prongs said together.

**"****You mustn't!" whispered Hermione. "You really mustn't! She'd love a reason to expel you!"**

**"****You don't get it, Hermione, do you?" said Fred, smiling at her. "We don't care about staying anymore. We'd walk out right now if we weren't determined to do our bit for Dumbledore first. So, anyway," he checked his watch, "phase one is about to begin. I'd get in the Great Hall for lunch, if I were you, that way the teachers will see you can't have had anything to do with it."**

"Whatever it is it's crazy." Ron said.

"More than likely." Mrs. Weasley said with a sigh.

**"****Anything to do with what?" said Hermione anxiously.**

**"****You'll see," said George. "Run along, now."**

**Fred and George turned away and disappeared into the swelling crowd descending the stairs towards lunch. Looking highly disconcerted, Ernie muttered something about unfinished Transfiguration homework and scurried away.**

**"****I think we should get out of here, you know," said Hermione nervously. "Just in case."**

**"****Yeah, all right," said Ron, and the three of them moved towards the doors to the Great Hall, but Cris had barely glimpsed the day's ceiling of scudding white clouds when somebody tapped her on the shoulder and, turning, she found herself almost nose-to-nose with Filch the caretaker.**

"What does he want?" Prongs asked.

"We'll find out." Alice said.

**She took several hasty steps backwards; Filch was best viewed at a distance.**

"That is very true," Sirius said.

**"****The Headmistress would like to see you, Potter," he leered.**

**"****I didn't do it," said Cris stupidly, thinking of whatever Fred and George were planning. Filch's jowls wobbled with silent laughter.**

**"****Guilty conscience, eh?" he wheezed. "Follow me."**

**Cris glanced back at Ron and Hermione, who were both looking worried. She shrugged, and followed Filch back into the Entrance Hall, against the tide of hungry students.**

**Filch seemed to be in an extremely good mood; he hummed creakily under his breath as they climbed the marble staircase. As they reached the first landing he said, "Things are changing around here, Potter."**

"For the worst, I wouldn't be surprised if someone left." Padfoot said.

"I wonder who will be the first." Prongs said.

"My guess will be your future son-in-laws." Moony said.

"You two better not leave." Mrs. Weasley said.

"It hasn't happened yet." They said.

**"****I've noticed," said Cris coldly.**

**"****Yerse… I've been telling Dumbledore for years and years he's too soft with you all," said Filch, chuckling nastily. "You filthy little beasts would never have dropped Stink Pellets if you'd known I had it in my power to whip you raw, would you, now? Nobody would have thought of throwing Fanged Frisbees down the corridors if I could've strung you up by the ankles in my office, would they? But when Educational Decree Number Twenty-nine comes in, Potter, I'll be allowed to do them things… and she's asked the Minister to sign an order for the expulsion of Peeves… oh, things are going to be very different around here with her in charge." **

"Okay, if corporal punishment is being introduced I would want to leave as well." Lily said.

**Umbridge had obviously gone to some lengths to get Filch on her side, Cris thought, and the worst of it was that he would probably prove an important weapon; his knowledge of the school's secret passageways and hiding places was probably second only to that of the Weasley twins.**

"Actually if anything it's goes The Golden Trio, the Weasley Twins then the Marauders." Victoire said.

"Really?" the three groups asked.

"Yeah, think about it, Mum found the Chamber of Secrets and the Room of Requirement. Dad and Papa knew about the room and Grandpa only found the secret passages." James said.

"That's true," Cris said.

"I'm so proud." Prongs said pretending to wipe away a fake tear.

**"****Here we are," he said, leering down at Cris as he rapped three times on Professor Umbridge's door and pushed it open. "The Potter girl to see you, Ma'am."**

**Umbridge's office, so very familiar to Cris from her many detentions, was the same as usual except for the large wooden block lying across the front of her desk on which golden letters spelled the word: HEADMISTRESS. Also, her Firebolt and Fred and George's Cleansweeps, which she saw with a pang, were chained and padlocked to a stout iron peg in the wall behind the desk.**

"The poor brooms." The three said.

"You can have them back after this." McGonagall said.

"Yes!" they cried much to amusement of the group.

**Umbridge was sitting behind the desk, busily scribbling on some of her pink parchment, but she looked up and smiled widely at their entrance.**

**"****Thank you, Argus," she said sweetly. **

"She's anything but sweet." Ron said.

"No kidding," Cris said.

**"****Not at all, Ma'am, not at all," said Filch, bowing as low as his rheumatism would permit, and exiting backwards.**

**"****Sit," said Umbridge curtly, pointing towards a chair. Cris sat. She continued to scribble for a few moments. She watched some of the foul kittens gamboling around the plates over her head, wondering what fresh horror she had in store for her.**

**"****Well, now," she said finally, setting down her quill and surveying her complacently, like a toad about to swallow a particularly juicy fly. "What would you like to drink?" **

"Whatever she gives you don't drink it." Moody said.

"I don't plan on it." Cris said.

"Good,"

**"****What?" said Cris, quite sure she had misheard her.**

**"****To drink, Miss Potter," she said, smiling still more widely. "Tea? Coffee? Pumpkin juice?" As she named each drink, she gave her short wand a wave, and a cup or glass of it appeared on her desk.**

**"****Nothing, thank you," said Cris.**

**"****I wish you to have a drink with me," she said, her voice becoming dangerously sweet. "Choose one."**

"Okay, she's being too obvious; there is something in those drinks." Tonks said.

"More than likely Veritaserum." Sirius said.

"I definitely won't be drinking anything then." Cris said.

**"****Fine… tea then," said Cris, shrugging.**

**She got up and made quite a performance of adding milk with her back to her. She then bustled around the desk with it, smiling in a sinisterly sweet fashion.**

**"****There," she said, handing it to her. "Drink it before it gets cold, won't you? Well, now, Miss Potter… I thought we ought to have a little chat, after the distressing events of last night."**

**She said nothing. She settled herself back into her seat and waited. When several long moments had passed in silence, she said gaily, "You're not drinking up!" **

"Way to be subtle." Kingsley said with a laugh.

**She raised the cup to her lips and then, just as suddenly, lowered it. One of the horrible painted kittens behind Umbridge had great round blue eyes just like Mad-Eye Moody's magical one and it had just occurred to Cris what Mad-Eye would say if he ever heard that Cris had drunk anything offered by a known enemy. **

"Good, at least you remembered." Moody said.

**"****What's the matter?" said Umbridge, who was still watching her closely. "Do you want sugar?"**

**"****No," said Cris.**

**She raised the cup to her lips again and pretended to take a sip, though keeping her mouth tightly closed.**

"Good," Sirius said.

"I'm not stupid, but our new headmistress seems to be." Cris said.

"Yep," Remus said with a laugh.

**Umbridge's smile widened.**

**"****Good," she whispered. "Very good. Now then…" She leaned forwards a little. "Where is Albus Dumbledore?"**

**"****No idea," said Cris promptly.**

"Well that is a truthful answer; you have no idea where he is." Robin said.

**"****Drink up, drink up," she said, still smiling. "Now, Miss Potter, let us not play childish games. I know that you know where he has gone. You and Dumbledore have been in this together from the beginning. Consider your position, Miss Potter…"**

**"****I don't know where he is," Cris repeated.**

"Oh Cris, you can only talk after a question is asked under Veritaserum." Sirius said.

"Noted," Cris said.

"Good,"

**She pretended to drink again. She was watching h very closely.**

**"****Very well," she said, though she looked displeased. "In that case, you will kindly tell me the whereabouts of Sirius Black."**

**Cris' stomach turned over and her hand holding the teacup shook so that it rattled in its saucer.**

**She tilted the cup to her mouth with her lips pressed together, so that some of the hot liquid trickled down on to her robes.**

**"****I don't know," she said, a little too quickly.**

**"****Miss Potter," said Umbridge, "let me remind you that it was I who almost caught the criminal Black in the Gryffindor fire in October. I know perfectly well it was you he was meeting and if I had had any proof neither of you would be at large today, I promise you. I repeat, Miss Potter... where is Sirius Black?"**

**"****No idea," said Cris loudly. "Haven't got a clue."**

"She can't tell anyway. The place is under the Fidelius charm." Sirius said.

"So even with the Veritaserum she won't be able to tell?" Gwen asked.

"Exactly," Remus said.

**They stared at each other so long that Cris felt her eyes watering. Then Umbridge stood up.**

**"****Very well, Potter, I will take your word for it this time, but be warned: the might of the Ministry stands behind me. All channels of communication in and out of this school are being monitored. A Floo Network Regulator is keeping watch over every fire in Hogwarts - except my own, of course. **

"Bad mistake!" Remus said.

"Cris is going to try and use her fire now isn't she?" Hermione asked.

"Probably." Remus said.

**My Inquisitorial Squad is opening and reading all owl post entering and leaving the castle. And Mr. Filch is observing all secret passages in and out of the castle. If I find a shred of evidence…"**

**BOOM!**

"What the?" the room asked.

"I'm guessing it is whatever we have in store for Umbridge." Fred said.

"More than likely," Sirius said.

**The very floor of the office shook. Umbridge slipped sideways, clutching her desk for support, and looking shocked.**

**"****What was -?"**

**She was gazing towards the door. Cris took the opportunity to empty her almost-full cup of tea into the nearest vase of dried flowers. She could hear people running and screaming several floors below.**

**"****Back to lunch you go, Potter!" cried Umbridge, raising her wand and dashing out of the office. Cris gave her a few seconds' start, then hurried after her to see what the source of all the uproar was.**

**It was not difficult to find. One floor down, pandemonium reigned. Somebody (and Cris had a very shrewd idea who) had set off what seemed to be an enormous crate of enchanted fireworks.**

"Sweet!" the twins said.

"The pranks from this time are still talked about." Teddy said.

"Cool!" the twins cried again.

**Dragons comprised entirely of green and gold sparks were soaring up and down the corridors, emitting loud fiery blasts and bangs as they went; shocking-pink Catherine wheels five feet in diameter were whizzing lethally through the air like so many flying saucers; rockets with long tails of brilliant silver stars were ricocheting off the walls; sparklers were writing swear words in midair of their own accord; firecrackers were exploding like mines everywhere Cris looked, and instead of burning themselves out, fading from sight or fizzling to a halt, these pyrotechnical miracles seemed to be gaining in energy and momentum the longer she watched.**

"Very nice," Prongs said.

**Filch and Umbridge were standing, apparently transfixed in horror, halfway down the stairs. As Cris watched, one of the larger Catherine wheels seemed to decide that what it needed was more room to maneuver; it whirled towards Umbridge and Filch with a sinister 'Wheeeeeeeeee'.**

"I hope they catch on fire." Cris muttered.

"Me too pup," Sirius said.

**They both yelled with fright and ducked, **

"Darn," Cris muttered.

**and it soared straight out of the window behind them and off across the grounds. Meanwhile, several of the dragons and a large purple bat**

"Hmm, I wonder where we got the inspiration for that one." Fred said.

"That one is easy, it's Snape." George said.

**that was smoking ominously took advantage of the open door at the end of the corridor to escape towards the second floor.**

**"****Hurry, Filch, hurry!" shrieked Umbridge, "they'll be all over the school unless we do something - Stupefy!"**

**A jet of red light shot out of the end of her wand and hit one of the rockets. Instead of freezing in midair, it exploded with such force that it blasted a hole in a painting of a soppy-looking witch in the middle of a meadow;**

"Oohh, that's all her fault there." Padfoot said.

"How do you stop them?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"I don't know, we haven't worked on them yet." Fred said.

**she ran for it just in time, reappearing seconds later squashed into the next painting, where a couple of wizards playing cards stood up hastily to make room for her.**

**"****Don't Stun them, Filch!" shouted Umbridge angrily, for all the world as though it had been his incantation.**

"Does she even know that he's a squib?" Kit asked.

"I don't think so." Padfoot said.

**"****Right you are, Headmistress!" wheezed Filch, who as a Squib could no more have Stunned the fireworks than swallowed them. He dashed to a nearby cupboard, pulled out a broom and began swatting at the fireworks in midair; within seconds the head of the broom was ablaze. **

"Wow, he's stupid." Gwen said.

"No kidding," Frank said.

**Cris had seen enough; laughing, she ducked down low, ran to a door she knew was concealed behind a tapestry a little way along the corridor and slipped through it to find Fred and George hiding just behind it, listening to Umbridge and Filch's yells and quaking with suppressed mirth.**

**"****Impressive," Cris said quietly, grinning. "Very impressive… you'll put Dr. Filibuster out of business, no problem…"**

"Ooohhh, you three are alone in a secret passage." Bill said.

"You better not do anything." Sirius said. The twins gulped and nodded.

**"****Cheers," whispered George, wiping tears of laughter from his face, he bent down and kissed her soundly. "Oh, I hope she tries Vanishing them next… they multiply by ten every time you try."**

"You two know more than you let on." Remus said.

"Of course," George said.

**The fireworks continued to burn and to spread all over the school that afternoon. Though they caused plenty of disruption, particularly the firecrackers, the other teachers didn't seem to mind them very much.**

"Of course, anything to annoy the new head, right Minnie?" Padfoot asked.

"Don't call me Minnie," McGonagall said though she had a smile on her face.

**"****Dear, dear," said Professor McGonagall sardonically, as one of the dragons soared around her classroom, emitting loud bangs and exhaling flame. "Miss Brown, would you mind running along to the Headmistress and informing her that we have an escaped firework in our classroom?"**

"Good one Minnie!" Prongs exclaimed. McGonagall just groaned knowing she'll never get them to stop calling her the nickname.

**The upshot of it all was that Professor Umbridge spent her first afternoon as Headmistress running all over the school answering the summonses of the other teachers, none of whom seemed able to rid their rooms of the fireworks without her. When the final bell rang and they were heading back to Gryffindor Tower with their bags, Cris saw, with immense satisfaction, a disheveled and soot-blackened Umbridge tottering sweaty-faced from Professor Flitwick's classroom.**

"Oh my god, you guys are giving her a lot of grief." Bill said with a laugh.

**"****Thank you so much, Professor!" said Professor Flitwick in his squeaky little voice. "I could have got rid of the sparklers myself, of course, but I wasn't sure whether or not I had the authority."**

"So that's why you guys are giving her problems." Charlie said with a laugh.

**Beaming, he closed his classroom door in her snarling face.**

**Fred and George were heroes that night in the Gryffindor common room. Even Hermione fought her way through the excited crowd to congratulate them.**

**"****They were wonderful fireworks," she said admiringly.**

**"****Thanks," said George, looking both surprised and pleased. "Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-bangs. Only thing is, we used our whole stock; we're going to have to start again from scratch now."**

"When you get them done I want to see if they will destroy the portrait of my mother." Sirius said.

"Done," George said.

"Free of charge," Fred said.

"Nice," Sirius said.

**"****It was worth it, though," said Fred, who was taking orders from clamoring Gryffindors. "If you want to add your name to the waiting list, Hermione, it's five Galleons for your Basic Blaze box and twenty for the Deflagration Deluxe…"**

"I don't want to know what's in the second box." Mrs. Weasley said.

"I do," Prongs said.

"We'll tell you later," George said.

**Hermione returned to the table where Cris and Ron were sitting staring at his schoolbag as though hoping his homework would spring out and start doing itself. Cris was already working on it having given up on talking Ron into it.**

"How do you know what I'm thinking?" Ron asked.

"Because I know you Red," Cris said.

**"****Oh, why don't we have a night off?" said Hermione brightly, as a silver-tailed Weasley rocket zoomed past the window. "After all, the Easter holidays start on Friday, we'll have plenty of time then."**

Cris jumped out of Sirius' lap and went over to Hermione to check her temperature.

"Hermione are you feeling okay?" Ron asked.

"I'm fine," Hermione said with a laugh.

"But you just said to take the night off." Draco said.

"You never take the night off." Cris said.

"Ginny, read." Hermione said.

**"****Are you feeling all right?" Ron asked, staring at her in disbelief.**

**"****Now you mention it," said Hermione happily, "d'you know… I think I'm feeling a bit… rebellious."**

**Cris could still hear the distant bangs of escaped firecrackers when she and Ron went up to bed an hour later; and as she got undressed a sparkler floated past the tower, still resolutely spelling out the word TOO.**

"Um, what was it supposed to spell?" Gwen asked.

"I don't know,"

"Don't ask us."

**She got into bed, yawning. With her contacts out, the occasional firework passing the window had become blurred, looking like sparkling clouds, beautiful and mysterious against the black sky.**

**She turned on to her side, wondering how Umbridge was feeling about her first day in Dumbledore's job, and how Fudge would react when he heard that the school had spent most of the day in a state of advanced disruption. Smiling to herself, Cris closed her eyes…**

**The whizzes and bangs of escaped fireworks in the grounds seemed to be growing more distant… or perhaps she was simply speeding away from them…**

**She had fallen right into the corridor leading to the Department of Mysteries. She was speeding towards the plain black door… let it open… let it open…**

**It did. She was inside the circular room lined with doors… she crossed it, placed her hand on an identical door and it swung inwards…**

**Now she was in a long, rectangular room full of an odd mechanical clicking. There were dancing flecks of light on the walls but she did not pause to investigate… she had to go on…**

**There was a door at the far end… it, too, opened at her touch… **

**And now she was in a dimly lit room as high and wide as a church, full of nothing but rows and rows of towering shelves, each laden with small, dusty, spun-glass spheres…**

'This is not good," the Order members thought. Voldemort was getting close to getting the prophecy.

"What room is that?" Cris asked.

"Not now Cris," Dumbledore said. Cris huffed and crossed her arms over her chest as Ginny continued to read.

**now Cris' heart was beating fast with excitement… she knew where to go… she ran forwards, but her footsteps made no noise in the enormous, deserted room…**

Sirius held Cris tighter now knowing what Voldemort had planned for Cris.

**There was something in this room she wanted very, very much…**

**Something she wanted… or somebody else wanted…**

**Her scar was hurting…**

**BANG!**

"What happened now?" Lily asked.

"We'll find out." Cris said.

**Cris awoke instantly, confused and angry. The dark dormitory was full of the sound of laughter.**

**"****Cool!" said Seamus, who was silhouetted against the window. "I think one of those Catherine wheels hit a rocket and it's like they mated, come and see!"**

"Weird affect." George said.

"I wonder what it made." Fred said.

**Cris heard Ron and Dean scramble out of bed for a better look. She lay quite still and silent while the pain in her scar subsided and disappointment washed over her. She felt as though a wonderful treat had been snatched from her at the very last moment… she had got so close that time.**

"Don't think like that!" Sirius muttered to Cris.

"I know," Cris said.

**Glittering pink and silver winged piglets were now soaring past the windows of Gryffindor Tower. Cris lay and listened to the appreciative whoops of Gryffindors in the dormitories below them. Her stomach gave a sickening jolt as she remembered that she had Occlumency the following evening.**

**Cris spent the whole of the next day dreading what Snape was going to say if he found out how much further into the Department of Mysteries Cris had penetrated during her last dream. With a surge of guilt she realized that she had not practiced Occlumency once since their last lesson: there had been too much going on since Dumbledore had left; she was sure she would not have been able to empty her mind even if she had tried. She doubted, however, whether Snape would accept that excuse.**

"He wouldn't accept any excuse." Sirius said.

"It is understandable though." Lily said, "I wouldn't be able to either if I was in your position."

**She attempted a little last-minute practice during classes that day, but it was no good. Hermione kept asking her what was wrong whenever she fell silent trying to rid herself of all thought and emotion and, after all, the best moment to empty her brain was not while teachers were firing review questions at the class. **

"Yeah, that is a bad time." Prongs said.

**Resigned to the worst, he set off for Snape's office after dinner. Halfway across the Entrance Hall, however, Cho came hurrying up to her.**

**"****Over here," said Cris, glad of a reason to postpone her meeting with Snape, and beckoning her across to the corner of the Entrance Hall where the giant hour-glasses stood. Gryffindor's was now almost empty. "Are you okay? Umbridge hasn't been asking you about the D.A., has she?"**

**"****Oh, no," said Cho hurriedly. "No, it was only… well, I just wanted to say… Cris, I never dreamed Marietta would tell…"**

"It just goes to show that you can't always trust your friends." Prongs said bitterly thinking about how Peter had betrayed him and his family.

**"****Yeah, well," said Cris moodily. She did feel Cho might have chosen her friends a bit more carefully; it was small consolation that the last she had heard, Marietta was still up in the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey had not been able to make the slightest improvement to her pimples.**

"Even Madame Pomfrey can't find the cure." Remus said with amusement in his voice.

"Well it does go away over time." Hermione said.

"At least it wasn't too dangerous." Lily said.

**"****She's a lovely person really," said Cho. "She just made a mistake -" Cris looked at her incredulously.**

As did most of the room.

**"****A lovely person who made a mistake? She sold us all out, including you!"**

**"****Well… we all got away, didn't we?" said Cho pleadingly. "You know, her mum works for the Ministry, it's really difficult for her -"**

**"****Ron's dad works for the Ministry too!" Cris said furiously. "And in case you hadn't noticed, he hasn't got sneak written across his face -"**

**"That was a really horrible trick of Hermione Granger's," said Cho fiercely. "She should have told us she'd jinxed that list -" **

"Then people wouldn't have signed it." Hermione said.

**"****I think it was a brilliant idea," said Cris coldly. Cho flushed and her eyes grew brighter.**

**"****Oh yes, I forgot - of course, if it was Hermione's idea -"**

**Fuming, Cris descended the stairs to Snape's dungeon and, though she knew from experience how much easier it would be for Snape to penetrate her mind if she arrived angry and resentful, she succeeded in nothing but thinking of a few more things she should have said to Cho about Marietta before reaching the dungeon door.**

**"****You're late, Potter," said Snape coldly, as Cris closed the door behind her.**

**Snape was standing with his back to Cris, removing, as usual, certain of his thoughts and placing them carefully in Dumbledore's Pensieve. He dropped the last silvery strand into the stone basin and turned to face Cris.**

**"****So," he said. "Have you been practicing?"**

**"****Yes," Cris lied, looking carefully at one of the legs of Snape's desk.**

**"****Well, we'll soon find out, won't we?" said Snape smoothly. "Wand out, Potter."**

**Cris moved into his usual position, facing Snape with the desk between them. Her heart was pumping fast with anger at Cho and anxiety about how much Snape was about to extract from her mind.**

"That really isn't going to help you." Remus said. He really wished that Snape had taught her better.

**"****On the count of three then," said Snape lazily. "One - two -"**

**Snape's office door banged open and Draco Malfoy sped in.**

**"****Professor Snape, sir - oh - sorry -"**

**Malfoy was looking at Snape and Cris in some surprise.**

**"****It's all right, Draco," said Snape, lowering his wand. "Potter is here for a little remedial Potions." **

"Great, now he'll have more material for insulting you." Padfoot said.

"I'm sorry Cris," Draco said.

"It's okay, it hasn't happened and it won't happen." Cris said.

"Right," Draco said.

**Cris had not seen Malfoy look so gleeful since Umbridge had turned up to inspect Hagrid.**

**"****I didn't know," he said, leering at Cris, who knew her face was burning. She would have given a great deal to be able to shout the truth at Malfoy - or, even better, to hit him with a good curse.**

"Do it!" cried the room.

**"****Well, Draco, what is it?" asked Snape.**

**"****It's Professor Umbridge, sir - she needs your help," said Malfoy. "They've found Montague, sir, he's turned up jammed inside a toilet on the fourth floor."**

The pranksters in the room couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Well, at least he ended up in the school." Mrs. Weasley said.

**"****How did he get in there?" demanded Snape.**

**"****I don't know, sir, he's a bit confused."**

**"****Very well, very well. Potter," said Snape, "we shall resume this lesson tomorrow evening."**

**He turned and swept from his office. Malfoy mouthed, "Remedial Potions?" at Cris behind Snape's back before following him.**

**Seething, Cris replaced her wand inside her robes and made to leave the room. At least she had twenty-four more hours in which to practice; she knew she ought to feel grateful for the narrow escape, though it was hard that it came at the expense of Malfoy telling the whole school that she needed remedial Potions. **

"But not Ron and Hermione know the truth." Ginny said.

"True," Cris said.

**She was at the office door when she saw it: a patch of shivering light dancing on the doorframe.**

**She stopped, and stood looking at it, reminded of something… then she remembered: it was a little like the lights she had seen in her dream last night, the lights in the second room she had walked through on her journey through the Department of Mysteries.**

**She turned around. The light was coming from the Pensieve sitting on Snape's desk. The silver white contents were ebbing and swirling within. Snape's thoughts… things he did not want Cris to see if she broke through Snape's Defenses accidentally… **

"Whatever you do, don't go into his memories." Sirius said.

"You know this hasn't happened yet and it's in the future and you know my curiosity." Cris said.

"I do," Sirius said with a sigh.

**Cris gazed at the Pensieve, curiosity welling inside her… what was it that Snape was so keen to hide from Cris?**

**The silvery lights shivered on the wall… Cris took two steps towards the desk, thinking hard.**

**Could it possibly be information about the Department of Mysteries that Snape was determined to keep from her? **

"I doubt it," Lily said.

**Cris looked over her shoulder, her heart now pumping harder and faster than ever. How long would it take Snape to release Montague from the toilet? Would he come straight back to his office afterwards, or accompany Montague to the hospital wing? Surely the latter… Montague was Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team; Snape would want to make sure he was all right.**

**Cris walked the remaining few feet to the Pensieve and stood over it, gazing into its depths. He hesitated, listening, then pulled out her wand again. The office and the corridor beyond were completely silent. She gave the contents of the Pensieve a small prod with the end of her wand.**

"Oh Cris, you really need to learn to not be so curious." Remus said.

"Sorry, it hasn't happened yet, so I can't get into trouble. Right?" Cris asked.

"Right," Sirius said.

"Okay," Cris said.

**The silvery stuff within began to swirl very fast. Cris leaned forwards over it and saw that it had become transparent. She was, once again, looking down into a room as though through a circular window in the ceiling… in fact, unless she was much mistaken, she was looking down into the Great Hall.**

**Her breath was actually fogging the surface of Snape's thoughts… her brain seemed to be in limbo… it would be insane to do the thing she was so strongly tempted to do… she was trembling… Snape could be back at any moment… but Cris thought of Cho's anger, of Malfoy's jeering face, and a reckless daring seized her.**

**She took a great gulp of breath, and plunged her face into the surface of Snape's thoughts. At once, the floor of the office lurched, tipping Cris head-first into the Pensieve… **

Snape went pale he knew what day it would be and it would be terrible for Cris to see.

**She was falling through cold blackness, spinning furiously as she went, and then -**

**She was standing in the middle of the Great Hall, but the four house tables were gone. Instead, there were more than a hundred smaller tables, all facing the same way, at each of which sat a student, head bent low, scribbling on a roll of parchment. The only sound was the scratching of quills and the occasional rustle as somebody adjusted their parchment. It was clearly exam time.**

The Marauder's went pale as they realized what memory this was.

"Cris you might want to go to Fred and George." Sirius said. Cris looked curious but went to the twins who wrapped themselves around her.

**Sunshine was streaming through the high windows on to the bent heads, which shone chestnut and copper and gold in the bright light. Cris looked around carefully. Snape had to be here somewhere… this was his memory…**

"Why do you want to find him?" Ron asked.

"I don't know, to see if there was anyone I know there." Cris said shrugging.

**And there he was, at a table right behind Cris. Cris stared. Snape-the-teenager had a stringy, pallid look about him, like a plant kept in the dark. His hair was lank and greasy and was flopping on to the table, his hooked nose barely half an inch from the surface of the parchment as he scribbled. Cris moved around behind Snape and read the heading of the examination paper:**

**DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS - ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL.**

The Marauder's winced knowing exactly what this was.

**So Snape had to be fifteen or sixteen, around Cris' own age. His hand was flying across the parchment; he had written at least a foot more than his closest neighbors, and yet his writing was minuscule and cramped.**

**"****Five more minutes!"**

**The voice made Cris jump. Turning, she saw the top of Professor Flitwick's head moving between the desks a short distance away. Professor Flitwick was walking past a boy with untidy black hair… very untidy black hair…**

"Dad?" Cris asked.

"Yeah, that's me." Prongs said. He wasn't sure how his daughter would take this since she was abused and bullied.

**Cris moved so quickly that, had she been solid, she would have knocked desks flying. Instead she seemed to slide, dreamlike, across two aisles and up a third. The back of the black-haired boy's head drew nearer and… he was straightening up now, putting down his quill, pulling his roll of parchment towards him so as to reread what he had written…**

**Cris stopped in front of the desk and gazed down at her fifteen-year-old father.**

**Excitement exploded in the pit of her stomach: it was as though she was looking at herself but with deliberate mistakes. James's eyes were hazel, his nose was slightly longer than Cris' and there was no scar on his forehead, but they had the same thin face, same mouth, same eyebrows; James's hair stuck up at the back exactly as Cris' did, his hands could have been Cris' and Cris could tell that, when James stood up, they would be within an inch of each other in height except the fact Cris had curves and James did not.**

"I would hope that I don't." Prongs said with a smile. Cris laughed it really was good to see and talk to her parents.

**James yawned hugely and rumpled up his hair, making it even messier than it had been. Then, with a glance towards Professor Flitwick, he turned in his seat and grinned at a boy sitting four seats behind him.**

**With another shock of excitement, Cris saw Sirius give James the thumbs-up. Sirius was lounging in his chair at his ease, tilting it back on two legs. He was very good-looking; his dark hair fell into his eyes with a sort of casual elegance neither James's nor Cris' could ever have achieved, **

Padfoot lounged in his seat as well to try and pull off the look as well. Cris and Keiran laughed as their young godfather/father.

**and a girl sitting behind him was eyeing him hopefully, though he didn't seem to have noticed. And two seats along from this girl – Cris' stomach gave another pleasurable squirm - was Remus Lupin. He looked rather pale and peaky (was the full moon approaching?) **

"It was," Moony said.

"That sucks." Teddy said.

**and was absorbed in the exam: as he reread his answers, he scratched his chin with the end of his quill, frowning slightly. Remus' twin was sitting behind almost doing the exact same thing as her twin was doing and Cris couldn't help but laugh.**

Robin and Kit pouted and the others laughed.

**So that meant Wormtail had to be around here somewhere, too… and sure enough, Cris spotted him within seconds: a small, mousy-haired boy with a pointed nose. Wormtail looked anxious; he was chewing his fingernails, staring down at his paper, scuffing the ground with his toes. **

Everyone glared at the book at the mention of the traitor.

**Every now and then he glanced hopefully at his neighbors paper. Cris stared at Wormtail for a moment, then back at James, who was now doodling on a bit of scrap parchment. He had drawn a Snitch and was now tracing the letters L.E. What did they stand for?**

"You didn't know my maiden name?" Lily asked shocked.

"No, I didn't until you guys showed up." Cris said. Lily sighed sadly, her baby should've known everything but instead she was abused and bullied.

**"****Quills down, please!" squeaked Professor Flitwick. "That means you too, Stebbins! Please remain seated while I collect your parchment! Accio!"**

**Over a hundred rolls**

"There were that many people in your year?" Cris asked.

"Yeah, how many is in your year?" Lily asked.

"There is around ten in each house in our year." Hermione said.

"That many people died?" Kit asked.

"Yeah," McGonagall said sadly.

**of parchment zoomed into the air and into Professor Flitwick's outstretched arms, knocking him backwards off his feet.**

"That was the last time he tried that." Remus said.

**Several people laughed. A couple of students at the front desks got up, took hold of Professor Flitwick beneath the elbows and lifted him back on to his feet.**

**"****Thank you… thank you," panted Professor Flitwick. "Very well, everybody, you're free to go!"**

**Cris looked down at her father, who had hastily crossed out the L.E. he had been embellishing, jumped to his feet, stuffed his quill and the exam paper into his bag, which he slung over his back, and stood waiting for Sirius to join him.**

**Cris looked around and glimpsed Snape a short way away, moving between the tables towards the doors to the Entrance Hall, still absorbed in his own exam paper. Round-shouldered yet angular, he walked in a twitchy manner that recalled a spider, and his oily hair was jumping about his face.**

**A gang of chattering girls separated Snape from James, Sirius and both Lupin's, and by planting herself in their midst, Cris managed to keep Snape in sight while straining her ears to catch the voices of James and his friends.**

**"****Did you like question ten, Moony?" asked Sirius as they emerged into the Entrance Hall. **

**"****Loved it," said Remus briskly. "Give five signs that identify the werewolf. Excellent question."**

"If you didn't get that one I would be worried." Tonks said.

**"****D'you think you managed to get all the signs?" said James in tones of mock concern.**

**"****Think I did," said Remus seriously, as they joined the crowd thronging around the front doors eager to get out into the sunlit grounds. "One: he's sitting on my chair. Two: he's wearing my clothes. Three: his name's Remus Lupin."**

The room laughed loudly at that.

"Did you really write that?" Bill asked through his laughter.

"No, but I was tempted to." Remus said.

**Wormtail was the only one who didn't laugh.**

**"****I got the snout shape, the pupils of the eyes and the tufted tail,' he said anxiously, "but I couldn't think what else -"**

**"****How thick are you, Wormtail?" said James impatiently. "You run round with a werewolf once a month -"**

**"****Keep your voice down," implored Remus and Robin. A friend of Robin's waved her over and she hugged her brother before leaving the group. **

"I take it not many others knew your secret." Charlie said.

"Just the teachers and the Marauders." Remus and Moony said.

**Cris looked anxiously behind her again. Snape remained close by, still buried in his exam questions - but this was Snape's memory and Cris was sure that if Snape chose to wander off in a different direction once outside in the grounds, she, Cris, would not be able to follow James any further. **

**To her intense relief, however, when James and his three friends strode off down the lawn towards the lake, Snape followed, still poring over the exam paper and apparently with no fixed idea of where he was going. By keeping a little ahead of him, Cris managed to maintain a close watch on James and the others.**

**"****Well, I thought that paper was a piece of cake," he heard Sirius say. "I'll be surprised if I don't get 'Outstanding' on it at least."**

**"****Me too," said James. He put his hand in his pocket and took out a struggling Golden Snitch. **

"But I thought you were a chaser." Cris said.

"I am, I just like nicking the snitch." Prongs said.

**"****Where'd you get that?"**

**"****Nicked it," said James casually. He started playing with the Snitch, allowing it to fly as much as a foot away before seizing it again; his reflexes were excellent. Wormtail watched him in awe.**

"Well he never could catch anything," Moony said.

**They stopped in the shade of the very same beech tree on the edge of the lake where Cris, Ron and Hermione had once spent a Sunday finishing their homework, and threw themselves down on the grass. Cris looked over her shoulder yet again and saw, to her delight, that Snape had settled himself on the grass in the dense shadow of a clump of bushes. He was as deeply immersed in the OWL paper as ever, which left Cris free to sit down on the grass between the beech and the bushes and watch the foursome under the tree. The sunlight was dazzling on the smooth surface of the lake, on the bank of which the group of laughing girls who had just left the Great Hall were sitting, with their shoes and socks off, cooling their feet in the water.**

**Remus had pulled out a book and was reading. Sirius stared around at the students milling over the grass, looking rather haughty and bored, but very handsomely so. James was still playing with the Snitch, letting it zoom further and further away, almost escaping but always grabbed at the last second. Wormtail was watching him with his mouth open. Every time James made a particularly difficult catch, Wormtail gasped and applauded. After five minutes of this, Cris wondered why James didn't tell Wormtail to get a grip on himself, but James seemed to be enjoying the attention. **

**Cris noticed that her father had a habit of rumpling up his hair as though to keep it from getting too tidy,**

"I'd forgotten about that," Sirius muttered sadly.

"Me too, Siri," Robin said gripping his hand. Remus had his hand on Robin's shoulder as Ginny continued reading.

**and he also kept looking over at the girls by the water's edge.**

**"****Put that away, will you," said Sirius finally, as James made a fine catch and Wormtail let out a cheer, "before Wormtail wets himself with excitement."**

**Wormtail turned slightly pink, but James grinned.**

**"If it bothers you," he said, stuffing the Snitch back in his pocket. Cris had the distinct impression that Sirius was the only one for whom James would have stopped showing off.**

**"****I'm bored," said Sirius. "Wish it was full moon."**

"Sorry," Sirius said.

"It's fine, it's been awhile since I had a good full moon." Remus said.

"I try my best but by being a fox I can only do so much." Robin said.

"And I appreciate it." Robin said hugging her brother just as Kit did with Moony.

**"****You might," said Remus darkly from behind his book. "We've still got Transfiguration, if you're bored you could test me. Here…" and he held out his book. **

"But don't you know it all?" Cris asked.

"Don't mind him, he was always like that." Kit said.

**But Sirius snorted. "I don't need to look at that rubbish, I know it all."**

**"****This'll liven you up, Padfoot," said James quietly. "Look who it is…"**

**Sirius's head turned. He became very still, like a dog that has scented a rabbit.**

**"****Excellent," he said softly. "Snivellus."**

Snape stiffened at the old insult.

"Cris, what we're about to hear is something we are very ashamed of." Remus said.

"We were young and immature, but please take that into account." Sirius said. The younger Marauders nodded along with their older counterparts and Cris could only nod wondering what they were talking about.

**Cris turned to see what Sirius was looking at.**

**Snape was on his feet again, and was stowing the OWL paper in his bag. As he left the shadows of the bushes and set off across the grass, Sirius and James stood up.**

Prongs and Padfoot stiffened wondering Cris and the rest of the room would react.

**Remus and Wormtail remained sitting: Remus was still staring down at his book, though his eyes were not moving and a faint frown line had appeared between his eyebrows; Wormtail was looking from Sirius and James to Snape with a look of avid anticipation on his face.**

**"****All right, Snivellus?" said James loudly.**

**Snape reacted so fast it was as though he had been expecting an attack: dropping his bag, he plunged his hand inside his robes and his wand was halfway into the air when James shouted, "Expelliarmus!"**

"That wasn't very sportsman like." Hermione said with a frown. Cris was frowning as well, could Snape had been right about not knowing the truth? It certainly seemed like it.

**Snape's wand flew twelve feet into the air and fell with a little thud in the grass behind him. Sirius let out a bark of laughter.**

**"****Impedimenta!" he said, pointing his wand at Snape, who was knocked off his feet halfway through a dive towards his own fallen wand.**

Cris went wide eyed and stared at her godfather before she glared at him. Sirius was immediately reminded of her mother.

**Students all around had turned to watch. Some of them had got to their feet and were edging nearer. Some looked apprehensive, others entertained.**

**Snape lay panting on the ground. James and Sirius advanced on him, wands raised, James glancing over his shoulder at the girls at the water's edge as he went. Wormtail was on his feet now, watching hungrily, edging around Remus to get a clearer view.**

**"****How'd the exam go, Snivelly?" said James.**

**"****I was watching him, his nose was touching the parchment," said Sirius viciously. "There'll be great grease marks all over it, they won't be able to read a word." **

The remaining Marauder's closed their eyes as the past stiffened in their chairs. Lily who knew what was coming grabbed Prongs' hand and gave him a reassuring squeeze.

**Several people watching laughed; Snape was clearly unpopular. Wormtail sniggered shrilly.**

**Snape was trying to get up, but the jinx was still operating on him; he was struggling, as though bound by invisible ropes.**

**"****You - wait," he panted, staring up at James with an expression of purest loathing, "you - wait!"**

**"****Wait for what?" said Sirius coolly. "What're you going to do, Snivelly, wipe your nose on us?"**

**Snape let out a stream of mixed swear words and hexes, but with his wand ten feet away nothing happened.**

**"****Wash out your mouth," said James coldly. "Scourgify!"**

Fred and George looked at their idols with shocked faces, they weren't just pranksters, they were also bullies. But then they looked at the remaining Marauder's to see they have looks of remorse on their faces.

**Pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape's mouth at once; the froth was covering his lips, making him gag, choking him -**

Flashbacks were going through Cris' mind as she was listening. She could hear the taunts from Dudley and his gang, there four of them just like the Marauders, the other thing different between her and Snape was he wasn't hit, she was, she still had the scars.

Cris jumped from her seat and ran from the room and into the side room. She tucked herself into a corner and cried. After all this time she imagined her dad being someone noble and smart who played the occasional prank. But what she didn't know was that he was a bully.

*Back in the Living Room*

"Cris," Sirius called as she ran off into the side room.

"I'll get her," Lily said. She got up to follow her daughter to let the others talk it through.

"I can't believe you were bullies." James said

"Believe it, we were awful." Kit said.

"I wonder how Cris is." Hermione said.

"I thought she would take it badly, seeing how she grew up; I hoped I would be able to tell a little more gently than this." Prongs said.

"Her respect for you might get lowered, she had been bullied herself by her cousin and she didn't think that you would be one as well." Ginny said. Prongs, Padfoot and Sirius nodded knowing that might be true.

*Back with Cris and Lily*

"Cris, where are you?" Lily asked as the door behind her closed. She could her hear the quiet sobs coming from the corner beside the bookcase. She went over to see Cris curled up and crying.

"Cris, are you okay?" she asked.

"No, all this time, I thought of dad as this great guy, but now with this thrusted at me, the truth is hard. I keep thinking of Dudley." Cris said weakly. "How in the world did you ever agree to go out with him?"

"Crisy, for the longest time, I despised your father. I don't know how we got together in the books but this time around, you brought us together." Lily said. "Come on, I know you don't want to but I'm sure this chapter is almost done and we can have all the time in the world to talk to them, alright?" she asked. Cris nodded and Lily helped her up and they went back to the group.

"Are you alright?" Sirius asked right away. Cris shook her head and went straight to the twins who wrapped themselves around her to comfort her. Cris gave Ginny a look and she continued reading.

**"****Leave him ALONE!"**

**James and Sirius looked round. James's free hand immediately jumped to his hair. **

"He's showing off?" Cris muttered to herself.

**It was one of the girls from the lake edge. She had thick, dark red hair that fell to her shoulders, and startlingly green almond-shaped eyes – Cris' eyes.**

**Cris' mother.**

**"****All right, Evans?" said James, and the tone of his voice was suddenly pleasant, deeper, more mature. **

'He is, how in the world did he think that would work on mum?' Cris thought.

**"****Leave him alone," Lily repeated. She was looking at James with every sign of great dislike.**

**"****What's he done to you?"**

**"****Well," said James, appearing to deliberate the point, "it's more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean…"**

Cris involuntarily flinched, that's what the Dursley's hated most about her. She was a lot like Snape and she didn't want to see it but couldn't help but see it.

**Many of the surrounding students laughed, Sirius and Wormtail included, but Remus, still apparently intent on his book, didn't, and nor did Lily.**

"Why didn't you do anything?" Hermione asked.

"I was afraid that the only friends I had would leave if I stood up to them." Remus said. His friends looked at the younger version of him.

"Is that true mate?" Prongs asked. Moony nodded sheepishly but didn't look into their eyes.

"Moony, we would never leave you, we became animagi for you." Padfoot said. Moony looked up as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Really?" he asked.

"Really, we may have pranked and bullied but when it comes to friends we would never kid about that." Prongs said. Moony smiled and hugged his friends.

**"****You think you're funny," she said coldly. "But you're just an arrogant, bullying toe rag, Potter. Leave him alone."**

**"****I will if you go out with me, Evans," said James quickly. "Go on… go out with me and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again."**

"Did he?" Charlie asked.

"He kept that promise," Sirius said.

**Behind him, the Impediment Jinx was wearing off. Snape was beginning to inch towards his fallen wand, spitting out soapsuds as he crawled.**

**"****I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid," said Lily.**

"So that's where you got the idea from." Lily muttered mostly to herself.

"Yep," Prongs said.

**"****Bad luck, Prongs," said Sirius briskly, and turned back to Snape. "Oy!"**

**But too late; Snape had directed his wand straight at James; there was a flash of light and a gash appeared on the side of James's face, spattering his robes with blood.**

"What hex was that?" Bill asked as he didn't recognize the spell.

"You don't want to know." Sirius said. Prongs rubbed his cheek that really had hurt and wasn't expecting it.

**James whirled about: a second flash of light later, Snape was hanging upside-down in the air, his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs and a pair of graying underpants.**

Cris glared at Prongs were flinched and looked away, she really had more of her mother than her father.

**Many people in the small crowd cheered; Sirius, James and Wormtail roared with laughter.**

**Lily, whose furious expression had twitched for an instant as though she was going to smile, said, "Let him down!"**

**"****Certainly," said James and he jerked his wand upwards; Snape fell into a crumpled heap on the ground. Disentangling himself from his robes he got quickly to his feet, wand up, but Sirius said, "Locomotor mortis!" and Snape keeled over again at once, rigid as a board.**

**"****LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Lily shouted. **

"Not that I'm complaining or anything just curious, but why are you so defensive of him?" Bill asked.

"Severus and I lived in the same neighborhood and were best friends. That's why." Lily said. Cris looked up immediately and glanced from her mum to her potion's professor.

**She had her own wand out now. James and Sirius eyed it warily.**

**"****Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you," said James earnestly.**

"I wouldn't have done it anyway." Prongs said.

"That's good to know." Lily said.

**"****Take the curse off him, then!"**

**James sighed deeply, then turned to Snape and muttered the counter-curse.**

**"There you go," he said, as Snape struggled to his feet. "You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus —"**

**"****I don't need help from filthy little **

Ginny suddenly stopped and glared at Snape.

"What is it Ginny?" Hermione asked.

"It's the m word that book Malfoy is fond of." Ginny said.

"Just get it over with." Hermione said. Ginny nodded and started reading again.

**Mudbloods like her!"**

**Lily blinked.**

**"****Fine," she said coolly. "I won't bother in future. And I'd wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus."**

**"****Apologize to Evans!" James roared at Snape, his wand pointed threateningly at him. **

"It sounds like Ron and Hermione." Neville said.

"A lot like them." Cris agreed glad that her dad defended her mum.

**"****I don't want you to make him apologize," Lily shouted, rounding on James. "You're as bad as he is."**

**"****What?" yelped James. "I'd NEVER call you a - you-know-what!"**

**"****Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can - I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK."**

Cris went wide-eyed, she knew that they hated each other but didn't think it was that bad. Sirius saw the look on his goddaughter's face sighed before telling her.

"They didn't date until seventh year; Prongs matured a lot that year and won Lily's heart in the end." Sirius said. Cris nodded but still didn't talk to him which he knew he deserved.

**She turned on her heel and hurried away.**

**"****Evans!" James shouted after her. "Hey, EVANS!"**

**But she didn't look back.**

**"****What is it with her?" said James, trying and failing to look as though this was a throwaway question of no real importance to him. **

**"Reading between the lines, I'd say she thinks you're a bit conceited, mate," said Sirius.**

"Wow, you got it Sirius," Lily said. Sirius smiled though it was forced.

**"****Right," said James, who looked furious now, "right -"**

**There was another flash of light, and Snape was once again hanging upside-down in the air.**

**"****Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?"**

**But whether James really did take off Snape's pants, Cris never found out. **

"Oh no," Charlie said.

"Snape's there." Bill said.

**A hand had closed tight over his upper arm, closed with a pincer-like grip.**

"So what happened?" Ron asked.

"Before we could even do anything McGonagall came and Prongs and I had the worst detentions ever." Sirius said.

**Wincing, Cris looked round to see who had hold of her, and saw, with a thrill of horror, a fully grown, adult-sized Snape standing right beside her, white with rage.**

**"****Having fun?"**

"I wouldn't say that, I would say she was filled with horror." Charlie said.

**Cris felt herself rising into the air; the summer's day evaporated around her; she was floating upwards through icy blackness, Snape's hand still tight upon her upper arm. Then, with a swooping feeling as though she had turned head-over-heels in midair, her feet hit the stone floor of Snape's dungeon and she was standing again beside the Pensieve on Snape's desk in the shadowy, present-day Potion masters study.**

**"****So," said Snape, gripping Cris' arm so tightly Cris' hand was starting to feel numb. "So… been enjoying yourself, Potter?"**

**"****N-no," said Cris, trying to free her arm.**

**It was scary: Snape's lips were shaking, his face was white, his teeth were bared.**

**"****Amusing man, your father, wasn't he?" said Snape, shaking Cris so hard her hair clip came loose.**

**"****I - didn't -"**

**Snape threw Cris from him with all his might. Cris fell hard on to the dungeon floor.**

**"****You will not repeat what you saw to anybody!" Snape bellowed.**

**"****No," said Cris, getting to her feet as far from Snape as she could. "No, of course I w—"**

**"****Get out, get out, I don't want to see you in this office ever again!"**

"And that's the end of the Occlumency lessons." Sirius said though he was pissed that Snape threw her.

**And as Cris hurtled towards the door, a jar of dead cockroaches exploded over her head.**

"I really hope he didn't throw it at you." Fred said.

"I don't know," Cris mumbled.

**She wrenched the door open and flew along the corridor, stopping only when she had put three floors between herself and Snape. There she leaned against the wall, panting, and rubbing her bruised arm.**

**She had no desire at all to return to Gryffindor Tower so early, nor to tell Ron and Hermione what she had just seen. What was making Cris feel so horrified and unhappy was not being shouted at or having jars thrown at her; it was that she knew how it felt to be humiliated in the middle of a circle of onlookers, knew exactly how Snape had felt as her father had taunted him, and that judging from what she had just seen, her father had been every bit as arrogant as Snape had always told her. **

"That's it," Ginny said. She handed the book to Neville but before he could start the next chapter both sets of Marauders stood up.

"Cris, can you come with us, we want to talk to you." Sirius said. Cris looked at him and nodded. The twins hugged her as she left to follow them into the side room.


	31. Break 2

Cris followed the Marauders into the side room she escaped to earlier. She didn't want to look at any of them but knew that she would have too. The room created a chair and Sirius directed her to sit in it. She did and she brought her legs up and wrapped her arms around them.

"Cris, I know you're upset." Sirius said. Cris looked up and glared at them.

"Upset doesn't even cover it; I don't know how to take this." Cris said. Robin sensing that she was distressed sat on the arm of the chair and started rubbing circles on her back.

"Cris, I know, we were young and stupid. And I am ashamed that I didn't try and stop it." Remus said.

"During that memory of Snape's I kept having flashbacks of the Dursley's. Being cornered, being hit again and again by Dudley and his gang." Cris mumbled. Prongs felt broken, his daughter was bullied and reading about him being the bully brought back horrible memories.

"Cris, after being here, and meeting you I can honestly say I regret ever picking on Snape and that I am sorry for him picking on you." Prongs said. Cris looked up and Prongs could see the unshed tears in her eyes.

"You regret it?" she whispered.

"We all do," Padfoot said. Cris looked around at all of us in the room and nodded.

"You really forgive us? Just like that?" Moony asked.

"I can see the regret in your eyes." Cris said wiping her eyes. Prongs got up and wrapped his daughter in a hug.

"I'm sorry Prongslet; I wish you didn't have to go through life like that." Prongs said.

"But we're going to change it so that you won't have to go through this, we will be there with you." Kit said.

"Thanks," Cris said.

"Alright, why don't we go back in there and get the next chapter done with, I'm sure it's almost dinner." Prongs said. Cris laughed and got up out of the chair, before going back into the room she gave the Marauders a hug and they hugged her back.

When the reentered the living room Cris decided to go and sit back with her boys. They hugged her to them and each gave her a gentle kiss as Neville turned the next chapter.


	32. Chapter 29: Career Advice

"**Chapter 29: Career Advice," **Neville read.

"This should be interesting," Bill said.

"Those meetings are always fun." Charlie said.

**"****But why haven't you got Occlumency lessons anymore?" said Hermione, frowning.**

**"****I've told you," Cris muttered. "Snape reckons I can carry on by myself now I've got the basics."**

"Cris, why did you lie?" Hermione asked.

"Probably didn't want to talk about what I had seen and I had promised I wouldn't tell anyone." Cris said.

**"****So you've stopped having funny dreams?" said Hermione skeptically.**

**"****Pretty much," said Cris, not looking at her.**

**"****Well, I don't think Snape should stop until you're absolutely sure you can control them!" said Hermione indignantly. "Cris, I think you should go back to him and ask -"**

**"****No," said Cris forcefully. "Just drop it, Hermione, okay?"**

"Déjà vu anyone?" Hermione asked.

"Totally," Cris said with a laugh.

"What?" Kit asked.

"In the second book I told Mia to drop it when she saw my scars from the Dursley's." Cris said.

"They abused you?" Kit asked wide-eyed.

"They stopped after the first year because they didn't know about the underage rule. But then Dobby showed up and levitated the pudding and I got a warning so my blackmail was gone. Now I'm using Sirius as blackmail, they don't know he's innocent." Cris said.

"Very clever," Kit said with a smile.

**It was the first day of the Easter holidays and Hermione, as was her custom, had spent a large part of the day drawing up study schedule for the three of them. Cris and Ron had let her do it; it was easier than arguing with her and, in any case, they might come in useful.**

**Ron had been startled to discover there were only six weeks left until their exams. **

"Why does that not surprise me?" Cris asked with a laugh.

"That's Ron for you." Hermione said.

"You really need to learn to pay attention to those things." Percy said.

"Um, Perce, you do realize that this is hasn't happened yet." Fred said.

"And that this is Ron we're talking about." George said.

"Shut up," Ron said blushing brightly.

**"****How can that come as a shock?" Hermione demanded, as she tapped each little square on Ron's schedule with her wand so that it flashed a different color according to its subject.**

**"****I dunno," said Ron, "there's been a lot going on. "**

**"****Well, there you are," she said, handing him his timetable, "if you follow that you should do fine."**

**Ron looked down it gloomily, but then brightened.**

**"****You've given me an evening off every week!"**

"I don't think it's what you think it's for." Charlie said.

"Probably not." Ron said.

**"****That's for Quidditch practice," said Hermione.**

**The smile faded from Ron's face.**

"Oh Ron," Charlie said.

"I'm sure this next game you'll do very well." Bill said.

"I hope so." Ron said.

**"What's the point?" he said dully. "We've got about as much chance of winning the Quidditch Cup this year as Dad's got of becoming Minister for Magic."**

"So a pretty good chance then." Remus said.

"Thank you Remus, but I like where I at." Mr. Weasley said.

**Hermione said nothing; she was looking at Cris, who was staring blankly at the opposite wall of the common room while Crookshanks pawed at her hand, trying to get his ears scratched.**

**"****What's wrong, Cris?"**

**"****What?" she said quickly. "Nothing."**

"You are a horrible liar." Hermione said.

"We'll teach you how to lie better." Padfoot said.

"And some pranks." Prongs said. McGonagall and Lily groaned and Mrs. Weasley looked sympathetic.

"Don't worry Lily dear, I'll be there when your children become pranksters." She said.

"Thank you." Lily said.

**She seized her copy of Defensive Magical Theory and pretended to be looking something up in the index. Crookshanks gave her up as a bad job and slunk away under Hermione's chair.**

**"****I saw Cho earlier," said Hermione tentatively. "She looked really miserable; too… did you two fight?"**

**"****We have," said Cris, seizing gratefully on the excuse.**

"That is putting it lightly." Sirius said.

"She's been so aggravating since the school year started." Cris said.

"That I understand." Sirius said.

"**What about?"**

"**That sneak friend of hers, Marietta," said Cris.**

"**Yeah, well, I don't blame you!" said Ron angrily, setting down his revision timetable. "If it hadn't been for her…"**

**Ron went into a rant about Marietta Edgecombe, which Cris found helpful; all he had to do was look angry, nod and say "Yeah" and "That's right" whenever Ron drew breath, leaving her mind free to dwell, ever more miserably, on what she had seen in the Pensieve.**

"I'm sure you'll find a way to contact us." Remus said.

"Yeah, Umbridge's fireplace isn't being watched so you can use it." Sirius said.

"Oh yeah, it was a very bad move on her part." Cris said.

"Very," Charlie said with a laugh. Umbridge was fuming, wondering why in the world she told the brat that.

**She felt as though the memory of it was eating her from inside. She had been so sure her parents were wonderful people that she had never had the slightest difficulty in disbelieving the aspersions Snape cast on her father's character. **

"I really hate to say this, I really do, but Snape is right." Prongs said. Snape's eyes widened and looked directly at his tormentors.

"I really wish you didn't have to find out that way." Sirius said. Cris looked up and smiled at them and they smiled back.

**Hadn't people like Hagrid and Sirius told Cris how wonderful her father had been? (Yeah, well, look what Sirius was like himself, said a nagging voice inside Cris' head… he was as bad, wasn't he?) Yes, she had once overheard Professor McGonagall saying that her father and Sirius had been troublemakers at school, but she had described them as forerunners of the Weasley twins, and Cris could not imagine Fred and George dangling someone upside-down for the fun of it… not unless they really loathed them… perhaps Malfoy, or somebody who really deserved it… **

"Well, we did loath each other, but really I don't know why I did the stuff I did to him." Prongs said.

**Cris tried to make a case for Snape having deserved what he had suffered at James's hands: but hadn't Lily asked, "What's he done to you?" And hadn't James replied, "It's more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean." Hadn't James started it all simply because Sirius had said he was bored? Cris remembered Remus saying back in Grimmauld Place that Dumbledore had made him prefect in the hope that he would be able to exercise some control over James and Sirius… but in the Pensieve, he had sat there and let it all happen… **

"I was scared that I would lose my friends, they knew what I am and they didn't care." Moony said.

"I understand now," Cris said simply.

**Cris kept reminding herself that Lily had intervened; his mother had been decent. Yet, the memory of the look on her face as she had shouted at James disturbed her quite as much as anything else; she had clearly loathed James, and Cris simply could not understand how they could have ended up married. Once or twice she even wondered whether James had forced her into it… **

"He didn't, he grew up and Lily agreed to go on a date, and that date wounded up as another and then they married when they were nineteen and had you a year later." Robin said. Cris nodded but still didn't move from her spot between her boys, Fred and George held her close to them sensing that she needed their comfort.

**For nearly five years the thought of her father had been a source of comfort, of inspiration.**

"I'm sorry Prongslet, I really am." Prongs said. Cris got up and hugged her teenage father and he hugged her back and kissed the top of her head. Lily hugged the two of them and Neville continued reading.

**Whenever someone had told her she was like James, she had glowed with pride inside. And now… now she felt cold and miserable at the thought of him.**

**The weather grew breezier, brighter and warmer as the Easter holidays passed, but Cris, along with the rest of the fifth- and seventh-years, was trapped inside, traipsing back and forth to the library. Cris pretended her bad mood had no other cause but the approaching exams, and as her fellow Gryffindors were sick of studying themselves, her excuse went unchallenged.**

**"****Cris, I'm talking to you, can you hear me?"**

"Who was that?" Gwen asked.

"It's either Ron, Hermione, Neville or Ginny if I am in the common room. Could be anyone else if I am in the library." Cris said.

**"****Huh?"**

**She looked round. Ginny Weasley, looking very windswept, had joined her at the library table where she had been sitting alone. It was late on Sunday evening: Hermione had gone back to Gryffindor Tower to review Ancient Runes, and Ron had Quidditch practice. **

"Wait, shouldn't Ginny be there as well?" Padfoot asked.

"I should be, I wonder why I am there." Ginny said.

**"Oh, hi," said Cris, pulling her books towards her. "How come you're not at practice?"**

**"****It's over," said Ginny. "Ron had to take Jack Sloper up to the hospital wing."**

"Great, I wonder what happened; it's rare to get hurt during practice." Frank said.

"You played Quidditch?" Neville asked.

"I was a chaser with James. I take it you take after Ali when it comes to flying?" he asked. Neville nodded and blushed and Frank just chuckled and Alice blushed as well.

**"****Why?"**

**"****Well, we're not sure, but we think he knocked himself out with his own bat."**

"Wow, how in the world did he do that?" Lily J asked.

"Isn't that kind of impossible?" James asked.

"Apparently not." Padfoot said.

**She sighed heavily. "Anyway… a package just arrived; it's only just got through Umbridge's new screening process."**

"Screening process? It sounds like she turned the place into a jail." Tonks said.

"It's a school, not a prison; it's not your place to know what students get." Mrs. Weasley said.

**She hoisted a box wrapped in brown paper on to the table; it had clearly been unwrapped and carelessly re-wrapped. There was a scribbled note across it in red ink, reading: Inspected and Passed by the Hogwarts High Inquisitor.**

"You seem to have a lot on your plate, are you sure you don't have a time turner?" Bill asked curiously.

"I don't need one." Umbridge snapped.

"Alright," Bill smirked.

**"****It's Easter eggs from Mum," said Ginny. "There's one for you… there you go."**

**She handed her a pretty chocolate egg decorated with small, iced Snitches and, according to the packaging, containing a bag of Fizzing Whizzbees. Cris looked at it for a moment, then, to her horror, felt a lump rise in her throat.**

**"****Are you okay, Cris?" Ginny asked quietly.**

**"****Yeah, I'm fine," said Cris gruffly. The lump in her throat was painful. She did not understand why an Easter egg should have made her feel like this.**

"You were probably thinking of me." Lily said.

"I probably was," Cris said.

**"****You seem really down lately," Ginny persisted. "Does it have to do with Fred and George, I'm sure they…"**

**"****It's not Fred and George I want to talk to," said Cris brusquely.**

**"****Who is it, then?" asked Ginny, watching her closely.**

**"****I…"**

**She glanced around to make quite sure nobody was listening. Madam Pince was several shelves away, stamping out a pile of books for a frantic-looking Hannah Abbott.**

**"****I wish I could talk to Sirius," she muttered. "But I know I can't."**

"I wish I told you what the mirror was." Sirius said.

"I know, but this time I will open it." Cris said.

"Good,"

**Ginny continued to watch her thoughtfully. More to give herself something to do than because she really wanted any, Cris unwrapped her Easter egg, broke off a large bit and put it into her mouth.**

**"****Well," said Ginny slowly, helping herself to a bit of egg, too, **

"I like to share." Cris said.

"I knew you wouldn't care." Ginny said.

**"****if you really want to talk to Sirius, I expect we could think of a way to do it."**

**"****Come on," said Cris dully. "With Umbridge policing the fires and reading all our mail?"**

**"****The thing about growing up with Fred and George," said Ginny thoughtfully, "is that you sort of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve."**

"Gin, is that a compliment?" Fred asked.

"Of course it is." Ginny said.

"Thank you sis!" Fred and George said.

**Cris looked at her. Perhaps it was the effect of the chocolate - Remus had always advised eating some after encounters with Dementors - or simply because she had finally spoken aloud the wish that had been burning inside her for a week, but she felt a bit more hopeful.**

**"****WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?"**

"Damn, I forgot about chocolate in the library." Prongs said.

"Any food." Moony said.

"Right," Padfoot said.

**"****Oh damn," whispered Ginny, jumping to her feet. "I forgot -" Madam Pince was swooping down on them, her shriveled face contorted with rage.**

"Yeah, you don't want to see her like that." Remus said.

**"****Chocolate in the library!" she screamed. "Out - out - OUT!" And whipping out her wand, she caused Cris' books, bag and ink bottle to chase her and Ginny from the library, whacking them repeatedly over the head as they ran.**

"I should learn that, maybe it'll get Ron to study." Hermione said.

"I study." Ron said.

"At the last minute." Cris and Hermione said together. Ron mock pouted and stuck his tongue out at them.

**As though to underline the importance of their upcoming examinations, a batch of pamphlets, leaflets and notices concerning various wizarding careers appeared on the tables in Gryffindor Tower shortly before the end of the holidays, along with yet another notice on the board, which read:**

**All fifth-years are required to attend a short meeting with their Head of House during the first week of the summer term to discuss their future careers. Times of individual appointments are listed below.**

**Cris looked down the list and found that she was expected in Professor McGonagall's office at half past two on Monday, which would mean missing most of Divination. **

"Well that's a good thing." Prongs said.

"Anything to keep me out of that class. I wish I never had to take it." Cris said.

**She and the other fifth years spent a considerable part of the final weekend of the Easter break reading all the careers information that had been left there for their perusal.**

**"****Well, I don't fancy Healing," said Ron on the last evening of the holidays. He was immersed in a leaflet that carried the crossed bone-and-wand emblem of St. Mungo's on its front. "It says here you need at least an E at NEWT level in Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts. I mean… blimey… don't want much, do they?"**

"It's the same for Auror's." Tonks said.

"Well, considering we're Auror's in the future I think we scored fairly well on the exams." Cris said.

"I can't wait to see what we got." Hermione said.

**"****Well, it's a very responsible job, isn't it?" said Hermione absently.**

"What do you mean by that?" Ron asked.

"I probably mean that you aren't that responsible at this time you probably very responsible in the future." Hermione said.

**She was poring over a bright pink and orange leaflet that was headed, SO YOU THINK YOU'D LIKE TO WORK IN MUGGLE RELATIONS?**

**"****You don't seem to need many qualifications to liaise with Muggles; all they want is an OWL in Muggle Studies: 'Much more important is your enthusiasm, patience and a good sense of fun!'"**

"Sounds like something dad would do." Bill said with a laugh.

**"****You'd need more than a good sense of fun to liaise with my uncle," said Cris darkly. "Good sense of when to duck, more like."**

"And if he comes near you again I'll deck him." Prongs said. Cris smiled at her dad who was very protective of her even though they had just met not long ago.

**She was halfway through a pamphlet on wizard banking.**

**"****Listen to this: Are you seeking a challenging career involving travel, adventure and substantial, danger-related treasure bonuses? Then consider a position with Gringotts Wizarding Bank, who are currently recruiting Curse-Breakers for thrilling opportunities abroad… They want Arithmancy, though; you could do it, Hermione!" **

"I think we have had enough adventures to last a life time." Hermione said.

"No kidding," Cris said.

"I wish you didn't have them though." Lily said.

"Then blame Voldemort." Cris said.

"I do," Lily said with a smile.

**"****I don't much fancy banking," said Hermione vaguely, now immersed in: HAVE YOU GOT WHAT IT TAKES TO TRAIN SECURITY TROLLS?**

"No more trolls, one was enough." Hermione said shivering as she remembered first year.

"I totally agree," Cris said.

**"****Hey," said a voice in Cris' ear. She looked round; Fred and George had come to join them. They kissed her as they sat down on either side of her.**

**"****Ginny's had a word with us about you," said Fred, stretching out his legs on the table in front of them and causing several booklets on careers with the Ministry of Magic to slide off on to the floor. "She says you need to talk to Sirius?"**

**"****What?" said Hermione sharply, freezing with her hand halfway towards picking up MAKE A BANG AT THE DEPARTMENT OF MAGICAL ACCIDENTS AND CATASTROPHES. **

"You would think they would want to avoid the bangs." Gwen said.

"You vood think so." Viktor said.

**"****Yeah…" said Cris, trying to sound casual, "yeah, I thought I'd like -"**

**"****Don't be so ridiculous," said Hermione, straightening up and looking at her as though she could not believe her eyes. "With Umbridge groping around in the fires and frisking all the owls?"**

**"****Well, we think we can find a way around that," said George, stretching and smiling. "It's a simple matter of causing a diversion. Now, you might have noticed that we have been rather quiet on the mayhem front during the Easter holidays?"**

**"****What was the point, we asked ourselves, of disrupting leisure time?" continued Fred. **

"There isn't." Sirius said.

"Though everyone probably thanks you for not disrupting them." Remus said.

**"No point at all, we answered ourselves. And of course, we'd have messed up people's studying, too, which would be the very last thing we'd want to do."**

**He gave Hermione a sanctimonious little nod. She looked rather taken aback by this thoughtfulness.**

"Sorry," Hermione said.

"It's okay Mia; you know how we are,"

"And us keeping quiet is rather suspicious."

**"****But it's business as usual from tomorrow," Fred continued briskly. "And if we're going to be causing a bit of uproar, why not do it so that Cris can have her chat with her loving godfather?"**

"Well at least there's a purpose." Mrs. Weasley said.

**"****Yes, but still," said Hermione, with an air of explaining something very simple to somebody very obtuse, "even if you do cause a diversion, how is Cris supposed to talk to him?"**

**"****Umbridge's office," said Cris quietly. **

"You didn't," Ginny said.

"More than likely, she did tell me about it." Cris said.

**She had been thinking about it for a fortnight and could come up with no alternative. Umbridge herself had told her that the only fire that was not being watched was her own.**

**"****Are - you - insane?" said Hermione in a hushed voice.**

"Probably," Cris said.

"Considering what we've done and what are going to find ourselves doing, yeah I consider us insane." Ron said.

**Ron had lowered his leaflet on jobs in the Cultivated Fungus Trade and was watching the conversation warily.**

**"****I don't think so," said Cris, shrugging.**

**"****And how are you going to get in there in the first place?"**

**Cris was ready for this question.**

**"****Sirius's knife," she said.**

**"****Excuse me?"**

**"****Christmas before last Sirius gave me a knife that'll open any lock," said Cris. **

"I really like that knife." Padfoot said.

"It would technically be yours now." Gwen said.

"I know," Cris said.

**"So even if she's bewitched the door so Alohomora won't work, which I bet she has."**

**"****What do you think about this?" Hermione demanded of Ron, and Cris was reminded irresistibly of Mrs. Weasley appealing to her husband during Cris' first dinner in Grimmauld Place.**

"I did?" Hermione asked.

"Sometimes, but not all the time." Cris said.

**"****I dunno," said Ron, looking alarmed at being asked to give an opinion. "If Cris wants to do it, it's up to her, isn't it?"**

**"****Spoken like a true friend and Weasley," said Fred, clapping Ron hard on the back. "Right, then. We're thinking of doing it tomorrow, just after lessons, because it should cause maximum impact if everybody's in the corridors - Cris, we'll set it off in the east wing somewhere, draw her right away from her own office — I reckon we should be able to guarantee you, what, twenty minutes?" he said, looking at George.**

**"****Easy," said George.**

**"****What sort of diversion is it?" asked Ron.**

"I wonder how big it is." Remus said.

"Probably really big." Sirius said.

**"****You'll see, little bro'," said Fred, as he and George got up again. "At least, you will if you trot along to Gregory the Smarmy's corridor round about five o'clock tomorrow."**

"I wonder what it is." Charlie said.

"I can't wait to find out." Bill said. The future kids looked at each other remembering the little shrine from the last prank the Weasley twins ever did.

**Cris awoke very early the next day, feeling almost as anxious as she had done on the morning of her disciplinary hearing at the Ministry of Magic. It was not only the prospect of breaking into Umbridge's office and using her fire to speak to Sirius that was making her feel nervous, though that was certainly bad enough; today also happened to be the first time Cris would be in close proximity to Snape since Snape had thrown her out of his office.**

"Yeah, I hope he doesn't do anything stupid." Lily said glaring at her once best friend.

**After lying in bed for a while thinking about the day ahead, Cris got up very quietly and moved across to the window beside Neville's bed, and stared out on a truly glorious morning. The sky was a clear, misty, opalescent blue. Directly ahead of her, Cris could see the towering beech tree below which her father had once tormented Snape. She was not sure what Sirius could possibly say to her that would make up for what she had seen in the Pensieve, but she was desperate to hear Sirius's own account of what had happened, to know of any mitigating factors there might have been, any excuse at all for her father's behavior…**

"The only excuse is that we were idiots." Prongs said.

"That's true," Kit said.

**Something caught Cris' attention: movement on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Cris squinted into the sun and saw Hagrid emerging from between the trees. He seemed to be limping.**

"So whatever is hurting him is in the forest." Charlie said.

"I hope we find out what it is." Ginny said.

"I hope so too." Cris said.

**As Cris watched, Hagrid staggered to the door of his cabin and disappeared inside it. Cris watched the cabin for several minutes. Hagrid did not emerge again, but smoke furled from the chimney, so Hagrid could not be so badly injured that he was unequal to stoking the fire.**

**Cris turned away from the window, headed back to her trunk and started to dress in the bathroom.**

**With the prospect of forcing entry into Umbridge's office ahead, Cris had never expected the day to be a restful one, but she had not reckoned on Hermione's almost continual attempts to dissuade her from what she was planning to do at five o'clock. **

"If I had known why you needed to talk to him I would have helped you." Hermione said.

"I suppose," Cris said.

**For the first time ever, she was at least as inattentive to Professor Binns in History of Magic**

"Wow, it's a miracle." Cris said. Hermione pouted but smiled nonetheless.

**as Cris and Ron were, keeping up a stream of whispered admonitions that Cris tried very hard to ignore.**

**"… ****and if she does catch you there, apart from being expelled, she'll be able to guess you've been talking to Snuffles and this time I expect she'll force you to drink Veritaserum and answer her questions…"**

**"****Hermione," said Ron in a low and indignant voice, "are you going to stop telling Cris off and listen to Binns, or am I going to have to take my own notes?"**

"Ron!" Mrs. Weasley shouted.

"You can do it, it won't kill you." Victoire said.

"Sorry," Ron said blushing.

**"You take notes for a change, it won't kill you!"**

Victoire and Hermione blushed at that.

"You've been hanging around Hermione too much." Keiran said to his fiancé.

"Actually I've just been hanging out with Rose." Victoire said.

**By the time they reached the dungeons neither Cris nor Ron was speaking to Hermione.**

"Another fight." Hermione said with a sigh.

"Every friendship has its fights." Prongs said.

"Some really bad, some not so bad." Padfoot said.

"Very true," Cris said.

**Undeterred, she took advantage of their silence to maintain an uninterrupted flow of dire warnings, all uttered under her breath in a vehement hiss that caused Seamus to waste five whole minutes checking his cauldron for leaks.**

**Snape, meanwhile, seemed to have decided to act as though Cris were invisible. Cris was, of course, well-used to this tactic, as it was one of Uncle Vernon's favorites, and on the whole was grateful she had to suffer nothing worse. In fact, compared to what she usually had to endure from Snape in the way of taunts and snide remarks, she found the new approach something of an improvement, and was pleased to find that when left well alone, she was able to concoct an Invigoration Draught quite easily. At the end of the lesson she scooped some of the potion into a flask, corked it and took it up to Snape's desk for marking, feeling that she might at last have scraped an E.**

"I hope he grades you fairly." Lily said glaring at him again.

"You better Severus." McGonagall said. Snape didn't say anything just looked down and refused to look anyone in the eye.

**She had just turned away when she heard a smashing noise. Malfoy gave a gleeful yell of laughter.**

**Cris whipped around. Her potion sample lay in pieces on the floor and Snape was surveying her with a look of gloating pleasure.**

"He broke it!" Lily yelled.

"Severus! I know she invaded your memories but that does not give you the right to destroy something she worked hard for!" McGonagall yelled. Draco looked at his godfather wide eyed hearing this from Cris' perspective made things ten times worse.

"We will be talking about this later Severus." Dumbledore said. Snape nodded and if anyone had their wands he would probably be dead.

"**Whoops," he said softly. "Another zero, then, Potter."**

"Why you little…" Sirius started to say but Robin cut him off.

"Leave it Pads, he isn't worth it." Robin said.

**Cris was too incensed to speak. She strode back to her cauldron, intending to fill another flask and force Snape to mark it, but saw to her horror that the rest of the contents had vanished.**

**"****I'm sorry!" said Hermione, with her hands over her mouth. "I'm really sorry, Cris. I thought you'd finished, so I cleared up!"**

"It's alright Mia, but next time; let me clean it up myself." Cris said.

"Alright Bolt, I'll remember that." Hermione said.

**Cris could not bring herself to answer. When the bell rang, she hurried out of the dungeon without a backwards glance, and made sure that she found herself a seat between Neville and Seamus for lunch so that Hermione could not start nagging her again about using Umbridge's office.**

"You could have told me what was wrong." Hermione said.

"I know, I should have." Cris said.

**She was in such a bad mood by the time she got to Divination that she had quite forgotten her careers appointment with Professor McGonagall, remembering it only when Ron asked her why she wasn't in her office. She hurtled back upstairs and arrived out of breath, only a few minutes late.**

**"****Sorry, Professor," she panted, as she closed the door. "I forgot."**

**"No matter, Potter," she said briskly, but as she spoke, somebody else sniffed from the corner.**

"Why is she there?" Bill asked.

"I have no idea." Charlie said.

"Maybe hoping to sabotage her meeting." Sirius said.

"That's something she would do." Remus said.

**Cris looked round.**

**Professor Umbridge was sitting there, a clipboard on her knee, a fussy little pie-frill around her neck and a small, horribly smug smile on her face.**

**"****Sit down, Potter," said Professor McGonagall tersely. Her hands shook slightly as she shuffled the many pamphlets littering her desk.**

"I was probably mad that she was there, it's supposed to be just the head of house and the student." McGonagall said.

"The Headmaster doesn't need to be there?" Gwen asked.

"No, I don't need to be there, the heads of house got it under control." Dumbledore said.

**Cris sat down with her back to Umbridge and did her best to pretend she could not hear the scratching of her quill on her clipboard.**

**"****Well, Potter, this meeting is to talk over any career ideas you might have, and to help you decide which subjects you should continue into the sixth and seventh years," said Professor McGonagall. "Have you had any thoughts about what you would like to do after you leave Hogwarts?"**

**"****Er -" said Cris.**

**She was finding the scratching noise from behind her very distracting.**

"I would too." Lily said.

"I would find it embarrassing to talk about something like that with an audience in the room." Al said.

**"****Yes?" Professor McGonagall prompted Cris.**

**"****Well, I thought of, maybe, being an Auror," Cris mumbled.**

"And it's ironic that a Death Eater told me that." Cris said.

"It is ironic." Prongs said with a laugh.

**"****You'd need top grades for that," said Professor McGonagall, extracting a small, dark leaflet from under the mass on her desk and opening it. "They ask for a minimum of five NEWTs, and nothing under 'Exceeds Expectations' grade, I see. Then you would be required to undergo a stringent series of character and aptitude tests at the Auror office. It's a difficult career path, Potter, they only take the best. In fact, I don't think anybody has been taken on in the last three years."**

"Nope, but I think you'd be taken once you've taken the tests." Moody said. Cris blushed furiously at that.

**At this moment, Professor Umbridge gave a very tiny cough, as though she was trying to see how quietly she could do it. Professor McGonagall ignored her.**

**"****You'll want to know which subjects you ought to take, I suppose?" she went on, talking a little louder than before.**

**"****Yes," said Cris. "Defense Against the Dark Arts, I suppose?"**

"That's one of them." Tonks said.

**"****Naturally," said Professor McGonagall crisply. "I would also advise -"**

**Professor Umbridge gave another cough, a little more audible this time. Professor McGonagall closed her eyes for a moment, opened them again, and continued as though nothing had happened. **

"This is not going to end well." Lily said.

"This is exactly like the time she observed her class." Ron said.

**"****I would also advise Transfiguration, because Aurors frequently need to Transfigure or Untransfigure in their work. And I ought to tell you now, Potter, that I do not accept students into my NEWT classes unless they have achieved 'Exceeds Expectations' or higher at Ordinary Wizarding Level. I'd say you're averaging 'Acceptable' at the moment, so you'll need to put in some good hard work before the exams to stand a chance of continuing. Then you ought to do Charms, always useful, and Potions. Yes, Potter, Potions," she added, with the merest flicker of a smile. "Poisons and antidotes are essential study for Aurors. And I must tell you that Professor Snape absolutely refuses to take students who get anything other than 'Outstanding' in their OWLs, so -"**

"How is that fair?" Lily asked.

"Teachers set the grade Miss Evans, I can't change them." Dumbledore said.

"You'll just have to work really hard; it's a good thing that he won't be the one to grade the tests." Prongs said.

**Professor Umbridge gave her most pronounced cough yet.**

"I wish you could duct tape her mouth shut and maybe tape her to the chair as well without her wand." Gwen said.

"I could do that." Cris said, "But we don't have any duct tape."

"Too bad," Gwen said.

**"****May I offer you a cough drop, Dolores?" Professor McGonagall asked curtly, without looking at Professor Umbridge.**

**"****Oh, no, thank you very much," said Umbridge, with that simpering laugh Cris hated so much.**

**"****I just wondered whether I could make the teensiest interruption, Minerva?" **

"You don't have a say in what she wants to do, it's her choice." McGonagall said.

"It's the teacher's job to guide them." Dumbledore said.

**"****I daresay you'll find you can," said Professor McGonagall through tightly gritted teeth.**

**"****I was just wondering whether Miss Potter has quite the temperament for an Auror?" said Professor Umbridge sweetly.**

"She does too; you don't want to be on the other end of her wand." Teddy said.

"I don't want to either." Sirius said shivering as he remembered the duel with Voldemort.

**"****Were you?" said Professor McGonagall haughtily. "Well, Potter," she continued, as though there had been no interruption, "if you are serious in this ambition, I would advise you to concentrate hard on bringing your Transfiguration and Potions up to scratch. I see Professor Flitwick has graded you between 'Acceptable' and 'Exceeds Expectations' for the last two years, so your Charm work seems satisfactory. As for Defense Against the Dark Arts, your marks have been generally high, Professor Lupin in particular thought you - are you quite sure you wouldn't like a cough drop, Dolores!"**

"How about one of our products?" Fred asked.

"Ton-Tongue toffee perhaps." George said.

**"****Oh, no need, thank you, Minerva" simpered Professor Umbridge, who had just coughed her loudest yet. "I was just concerned that you might not have Cristal's most recent Defense Against the Dark Arts marks in front of you. I'm quite sure I slipped in a note." **

"Well you don't teach at all so how can she have a grade in that class?" Charlie said.

"Exactly what I was thinking." Sirius said.

**"What, this thing?" said Professor McGonagall in a tone of revulsion, as she pulled a sheet of pink parchment**

"What is it with her and pink, I don't think I can ever wear pink again. I'm going to burn everything I own that is pink." Gwen said.

"I'll help," Cris said.

**from between the leaves of Cris' folder. She glanced down it, her eyebrows slightly raised, then placed it back into the folder without comment.**

**"Yes, as I was saying, Potter, Professor Lupin thought you showed a pronounced aptitude for the subject,**

"You show her Minnie!" Sirius cried out.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?" McGonagall asked.

"Too many to count." Sirius said.

**and obviously for an Auror -"**

**"Did you not understand my note, Minerva?" asked Professor Umbridge in honeyed tones, quite forgetting to cough.**

**"Of course I understood it," said Professor McGonagall, her teeth clenched so tightly the words came out a little muffled.**

"And I'm sure it's all lies." Charlie said.

"I'm sure it is, especially since you have no idea how she is even grading when all you're doing is reading the damn book." Bill said.

**"Well, then, I am confused… I'm afraid I don't quite understand how you can give Miss Potter false hope that -"**

"It's not false hope, I'd like to see you fight a bloody Basilisk without getting killed." Prongs said.

"Um Dad, I was almost killed." Cris said.

"I know but you had a phoenix with you, she won't." Prongs said.

"You could probably become an Auror now if you wanted to." Padfoot said.

"Well maybe not now but in a few years yeah." Tonks said.

"Thanks," Cris said blushing brightly.

**"False hope?" repeated Professor McGonagall, still refusing to look round at Professor Umbridge. "She has achieved high marks in all her Defense Against the Dark Arts tests -"**

**"I'm terribly sorry to have to contradict you, Minerva, but as you will see from my note, Cristal has been achieving very poor results in her classes with me -"**

"Well if you would actually teach you would be shocked at what she can do." Remus said.

"She's fast, the only reason I was able to disarm her at all is that she let me." Neville said.

"Being fast is good." Moody said gruffly giving Cris a lopsided smile.

**"I should have made my meaning plainer," said Professor McGonagall, turning at last to look Umbridge directly in the eyes. "She has achieved high marks in all Defense Against the Dark Arts tests set by a competent teacher."**

"You tell her!" Sirius cheered.

"It's true though." McGonagall said.

**Professor Umbridge's smile vanished as suddenly as a light bulb blowing. She sat back in her chair, turned a sheet on her clipboard and began scribbling very fast indeed, her bulging eyes rolling from side to side. Professor McGonagall turned back to Cris, her thin nostrils flared, her eyes burning.**

**"Any questions, Potter?"**

**"Yes," said Cris. "What sort of character and aptitude tests does the Ministry do on you, if you get enough NEWTs?"**

**"Well, you'll need to demonstrate the ability to react well to pressure and so forth," **

"That's not an issue for you though, you deal well under pressure." Charlie said.

"Thanks," Cris said blushing again this time her hair changed to fusia.

**said Professor McGonagall, "perseverance and dedication, because Auror training takes a further three years, not to mention very high skills in practical Defense. It will mean a lot more study even after you've left school, so unless you're prepared to-"**

"You already have that though, I'm sure it won't take you very long to be an Auror." Tonks said.

"How long did it take me?" Cris asked the future kids.

"I don't know, I've asked and you won't tell." Keiran said.

"Darn," Cris said.

**"I think you'll also find," said Umbridge, her voice very cold now, "that the Ministry looks into the records of those applying to be Aurors. Their criminal records."**

"I don't have a criminal record, do I?" Cris asked.

"You do not," Amelia said. "And I'm sure Sirius' was expunged when it got out that he was innocent."

"Thanks," Sirius said.

**"- unless you're prepared to take even more exams after Hogwarts, you should really look at another -"**

**"Which means that this girl has as much chance of becoming an Auror as Dumbledore has of ever returning to this school." **

"So a pretty good chance then." Sirius said.

**"A very good chance, then," said Professor McGonagall.**

"You think like Minnie!" Prongs exclaimed.

"No!" Padfoot exclaimed.

**"Potter has a criminal record," said Umbridge loudly.**

"She was cleared; she shouldn't have had a full trial anyway." Amelia said.

**"Potter has been cleared of all charges," said McGonagall, even more loudly.**

**Professor Umbridge stood up. She was so short that this did not make a great deal of difference, but her fussy, simpering demeanor had given place to a hard fury that made her broad, flabby face look oddly sinister.**

**"Potter has no chance whatsoever of becoming an Auror!"**

**Professor McGonagall got to her feet, too, and in her case this was a much more impressive move; she towered over Professor Umbridge.**

**"Potter," she said in ringing tones, "I will assist you to become an Auror if it is the last thing I do! If I have to coach you nightly, I will make sure you achieve the required results!"**

"That I will," McGonagall said.

"Thanks," Cris said.

**"The Minister for Magic will never employ Cristal Potter!" said Umbridge, her voice rising furiously.**

**"There may well be a new Minister for Magic by the time Potter is ready to join!" shouted Professor McGonagall. **

"That there was, and he is a great friend of ours." Keiran said. Fudge paled at his words though he had a feeling that his position was doomed from the start.

**"Aha!" shrieked Professor Umbridge, pointing a stubby finger at McGonagall. "Yes! Yes, yes, yes! Of course! That's what you want, isn't it, Minerva McGonagall? You want Cornelius Fudge replaced by Albus Dumbledore! You think you'll be where I am, don't you: Senior Undersecretary to the Minister and Headmistress to boot!"**

"Actually Dumbledore dies at the end of next year. There is a lot more that happened but we'll let the books tell you." Teddy said. Those who weren't there when that was relieved paled, with Dumbledore dead they couldn't imagine what would happen.

**"You are raving," said Professor McGonagall, superbly disdainful. "Potter, that concludes our careers consultation."**

**Cris swung her bag over her shoulder and hurried out of the room, not daring to look at Professor Umbridge. She could hear her and Professor McGonagall continuing to shout at each other all the way back along the corridor.**

**Professor Umbridge was still breathing as though she had just run a race when she strode into their Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson that afternoon.**

**"I hope you've thought better of what you were planning to do, Cris," Hermione whispered, the moment they had opened their books to 'Chapter Thirty-four, Non-Retaliation and Negotiation'.**

"Isn't this supposed to be a defense class?" Gwen asked.

"Yes it is, you're supposed to retaliate, how can you negotiate with someone who is trying to kill you?" Remus asked.

"You can't if you even try I'm sure you'll be killed before you even tried to talk." Tonks said.

"Are you really that blind to everything that you'd risk our extinction? There a few of us as it is." Amelia said.

**"Umbridge looks like she's in a really bad mood already…"**

**Every now and then Umbridge shot glowering looks at Cris, who kept her head down, staring at Defensive Magical Theory, her eyes unfocused, thinking…**

**She could just imagine Professor McGonagall's reaction if she was caught trespassing in Professor Umbridge's office mere hours after she had vouched for her… there was nothing to stop her simply going back to Gryffindor Tower and hoping that sometime during the next summer holidays she would have a chance to ask Sirius about the scene she had witnessed in the Pensieve… **

"You could," Sirius said.

"But knowing you, you probably won't wait." Remus finished. Cris blushed brightly at knowing that she would do just that.

**nothing, except that the thought of taking this sensible course of action made her feel as though a lead weight had dropped into her stomach… and then there was the matter of Fred and George, whose diversion was already planned, not to mention the knife Sirius had given her, which was currently residing in her schoolbag along with her father's old Invisibility Cloak.**

**But the fact remained that if she was caught…**

"That would be very bad." Lily said.

"I don't even want to contemplate that." Cris said.

**"Dumbledore sacrificed himself to keep you in school, Cris!" whispered Hermione, raising her book to hide her face from Umbridge. "And if you get thrown out today it will all have been for nothing!"**

"I already know that Mia," Cris said.

"Alright," Hermione said with a smile.

**She could abandon the plan and simply learn to live with the memory of what her father had done on a summer's day more than twenty years ago…**

**And then she remembered Sirius in the fire upstairs in the Gryffindor common room…**

**You're less like your father than I thought… the risk would've been what made it fun for James…**

"I'm sorry Cris," Sirius said.

"I already forgive you." Cris said.

"Thanks pup," Sirius said.

**But did she want to be like her father anymore?**

"I want you to be yourself," Prongs said.

"Thanks dad," Cris said wiping away the tears that were building in her eyes.

**"Cris, don't do it, please don't do it!" Hermione said in anguished tones as the bell rang at the end of the class.**

**She did not answer; she did not know what to do.**

**Ron seemed determined to give neither his opinion nor his advice; he would not look at Cris, though when Hermione opened her mouth to try dissuading Cris some more, he said in a low voice, "Give it a rest, okay? She can make up her own mind."**

"Thanks Red," Cris said.

"No problem." Ron said.

**Cris' heart beat very fast as she left the classroom. She was halfway along the corridor outside when she heard the unmistakable sounds of a diversion going off in the distance. There were screams and yells reverberating from somewhere above them; people exiting the classrooms all around Cris were stopping in their tracks and looking up at the ceiling fearfully - Umbridge came pelting out of her classroom as fast as her short legs would carry her. **

"I wonder how fast that is." Sirius said.

"Probably as fast as Dudley." Cris said. The group laughed at that.

**Pulling out her wand, she hurried off in the opposite direction: it was now or never.**

**"Cris - please!" Hermione pleaded weakly.**

"I know you're going to do it, and I understand." Hermione said.

"Thanks Mione," Cris said.

**But she had made up her mind; hitching her bag more securely on to her shoulder, she set off at a run, weaving in and out of students now hurrying in the opposite direction to see what all the fuss was about in the east wing.**

**Cris reached the corridor to Umbridge's office and found it deserted. Dashing behind a large suit of armor whose helmet creaked around to watch her, she pulled open her bag, seized Sirius's knife and donned the Invisibility Cloak. She then crept slowly and carefully back out from behind the suit of armor and along the corridor until she reached Umbridge's door.**

**She inserted the blade of the magical knife into the crack around it and moved it gently up and down, then withdrew it. There was a tiny click, and the door swung open. **

"Good it worked." Sirius said he was hoping that she wouldn't get caught.

**She ducked inside the office, closed the door quickly behind her and looked around.**

**Nothing was moving except the horrible kittens that were still frolicking on the wall plates above the confiscated broomsticks.**

"You should give your broom to Sirius to keep safe." Gwen said.

"I don't think that would be a good idea. Imagine Umbridge's reaction when she sees a broom is gone." Sirius said.

"It was worth a shot." Gwen said with a shrug.

**Cris pulled off her Cloak**

"Don't take the cloak off!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Padfoot, what would you have done if you heard her voice coming from the fire but couldn't see her." Remus said.

"Right, just keep it nearby and throw it on if someone comes in." Sirius said.

"Okay," Cris said with a smile.

**and, striding over to the fireplace, found what she was looking for within seconds: a small box containing glittering Floo powder.**

**She crouched down in front of the empty grate, her hands shaking. She had never done this before, though she thought she knew how it must work.**

"If you've traveled by Floo you can talk through Floo, it's the same thing." Frank said.

"Thanks, that clears that up." Cris said.

"You're welcome," Frank said.

**Sticking her head into the fireplace, she took a large pinch of powder and dropped it on to the logs stacked neatly beneath her. They exploded at once into emerald green flames.**

**"Number twelve, Grimmauld Place!" Cris said loudly and clearly.**

**It was one of the most curious sensations she had ever experienced. She had traveled by Floo powder before, of course, but then it had been her entire body that had spun around and around in the flames through the network of wizarding fireplaces that stretched over the country. This time, her knees remained firm upon the cold floor of Umbridge's office, and only her head hurtled through the emerald fire… **

"It is weird Floo calling for the first time." Robin said.

**And then, as abruptly as it had begun, the spinning stopped. Feeling rather sick and as though she were wearing an exceptionally hot muffler around her head, Cris opened her eyes to find that she was looking up out of the kitchen fireplace at the long, wooden table, where a man sat poring over a piece of parchment.**

**"Sirius?" **

"Um, I don't think it's me." Sirius said.

"It may be me." Remus said.

**The man jumped and looked around. It was not Sirius, but Remus.**

"At least I'm there as well." Remus said.

"I might be there as well." Robin said.

**"Cris!" he said, looking thoroughly shocked. "What are you - what's happened, is everything all right?"**

**"Yeah," said Cris. "I just wondered — I mean, I just fancied a - a chat with Sirius." **

"You need to work on your excuses." Remus said with a laugh.

"I'll work on that." Cris said with a laugh.

**"I'll call him," said Remus, getting to his feet, still looking perplexed, "he went upstairs to look for Kreacher, he seems to be hiding in the attic again…"**

"That doesn't seem right." Tonks said.

"He could be going to mum." Draco said.

"I'll question him when I get the chance." Sirius said.

**And Cris saw Remus hurry out of the kitchen. Now she was left with nothing to look at but the chair and table legs. She wondered why Sirius had never mentioned how very uncomfortable it was to speak out of the fire; her knees were already objecting painfully to their prolonged contact with Umbridge's hard stone floor.**

"You get used to it." Sirius said.

**Remus returned with Sirius at his heels moments later.**

**"What is it?" said Sirius urgently, sweeping his long dark hair out of his eyes and dropping to the ground in front of the fire, so that he and Cris were on a level. Remus knelt down too, looking very concerned. "Are you all right? Do you need help?"**

**"No," said Cris, "it's nothing like that… I just wanted to talk… about my dad."**

**They exchanged a look of great surprise, but Cris did not have time to feel awkward or embarrassed; her knees were becoming sorer by the second and he guessed five minutes had already passed from the start of the diversion; George had only guaranteed her twenty. She therefore plunged immediately into the story of what she had seen in the Pensieve. **

"That probably caught us by surprise." Remus said.

**When she had finished, neither Sirius nor Remus spoke for a moment. Then Remus said quietly, "I wouldn't like you to judge your father on what you saw there, Cris. He was only fifteen -"**

"But I'm fifteen." Cris said.

"And you act a lot more mature than any other normal fifteen year old." Remus said.

"True," Cris said.

**"I'm fifteen!" said Cris heatedly.**

**"Look, Cris" said Sirius placatingly, "James and Snape hated each other from the moment they set eyes on each other, it was just one of those things, you can understand that, can't you? I think James was everything Snape wanted to be - he was popular, he was good at Quidditch - good at pretty much everything. And Snape was just this little oddball who was up to his eyes in the Dark Arts, and James - whatever else he may have appeared to you, Cris - always hated the Dark Arts."**

"I do hate it," Prongs said. Cris nodded, she hated it too, hated it for what it took from her.

**"Yeah," said Cris, "but he just attacked Snape for no good reason, just because - well, just because you said you were bored," she finished, with a slightly apologetic note in her voice.**

**"I'm not proud of it," said Sirius quickly.**

**Remus looked sideways at Sirius, then said, "Look, Cris, what you've got to understand is that your father and Sirius were the best in the school at whatever they did - everyone thought they were the height of cool - if they sometimes got a bit carried away -" **

"More than," Sirius said.

**"If we were sometimes arrogant little berks, you mean," said Sirius.**

"That's true," Padfoot said.

**Remus smiled.**

**"He kept messing up his hair," said Cris in a pained voice.**

**Sirius and Remus laughed.**

**"I'd forgotten he used to do that," said Sirius affectionately.**

**"Was he playing with the Snitch?" said Remus eagerly.**

"Is it still around?" Prongs asked.

"It might still be in the house." Remus said.

"We never went back there, we wanted to clean it up but the Ministry marked it as an historical sight." Sirius said.

"So it's just sitting in ruins?" Lily asked.

"Yeah," Robin said.

**"Yeah," said Cris, watching uncomprehendingly as Sirius and Remus beamed reminiscently.**

**"Well… I thought he was a bit of an idiot."**

**"Of course he was a bit of an idiot!" said Sirius bracingly, "we were all idiots! Well - not Moony so much," he said fairly, looking at Remus.**

"I never stopped you guys." Moony said.

"And now we know why." Padfoot said. Moony smiled and his friends hugged him.

**But Remus shook her head. "Did I ever tell you to lay off Snape?" he said. "Did I ever have the guts to tell you I thought you were out of order?"**

**"Yeah, well," said Sirius, "you made us feel ashamed of ourselves sometimes… that was something…"**

"And the only one who could besides McGonagall at times." Prongs said.

**"And," said Cris doggedly, determined to say everything that was on her mind now she was here, "he kept looking over at the girls by the lake, hoping they were watching him!"**

**"Oh, well, he always made a fool of himself whenever Lily was around," said Sirius, shrugging, "he couldn't stop himself showing off whenever he got near her."**

**"How come she married him?" Cris asked miserably. "She hated him!"**

**"Nah, she didn't," said Sirius.**

**"She started going out with him in seventh year," said Remus.**

**"Once James had deflated his head a bit," said Sirius.**

**"And stopped hexing people just for the fun of it," said Remus.**

**"Even Snape?" said Cris.**

"Well only when she wasn't around, but Snape always tried to curse him first." Robin said.

"At least you tried," Lily said.

**"Well," said Remus slowly, "Snape was a special case I mean, he never lost an opportunity to curse James so you couldn't really expect James to take that lying down, could you?"**

**"And my mum was okay with that?"**

**"She didn't know too much about it, to tell you the truth," said Sirius. "I mean, James didn't take Snape on dates with her and jinx him in front of her, did he?"**

**Sirius frowned at Cris, who was still looking unconvinced.**

**"Look," he said, "your father was the best friend I ever had and he was a good person. A lot of people are idiots at the age of fifteen. He grew out of it."**

**"Yeah, okay," said Cris heavily. "I just never thought I'd feel sorry for Snape."**

"You know what it's like to be picked on though, that's why you feel sorry for him." Remus said.

"Though I wish you never had to grow up that way." Prongs said.

**"Now you mention it," said Remus, a faint crease between his eyebrows, "how did Snape react when he found you'd seen all this?"**

**"He told me he'd never teach me Occlumency again," said Cris indifferently, "like that's a big disappoint—"**

**"He WHAT?" shouted Sirius, causing Cris to jump and inhale a mouthful of ashes.**

**"Are you serious, Cris?" said Remus quickly. "He's stopped giving you lessons?"**

**"Yeah," said Cris, surprised at what she considered a great over-reaction. "But it's okay, I don't care, it's a bit of a relief to tell you the -"**

**"I'm coming up there to have a word with Snape!" said Sirius forcefully, and he actually made to stand up, but Remus wrenched him back down again.**

"Thanks for stopping me." Sirius said.

"I'm sure I don't want you to do something since you're about to be a father yourself." Remus said.

"I appreciate that." Robin said.

**"If anyone's going to tell Snape it will be me!" he said firmly. "But Cris, first of all, you're to go back to Snape and tell him that on no account is he to stop giving you lessons — when Dumbledore hears -"**

**"I can't tell him that, he'd kill me!" said Cris, outraged. "You didn't see him when we got out of the Pensieve."**

**"Cris there is nothing so important as you learning Occlumency!" said Remus sternly. "Do you understand me? Nothing!"**

"You should tell me, I know there's something." Cris said.

"I'm guessing it'll be in the book." Dumbledore said.

"Though we will help you with the Occlumency better than Snape can." Sirius said.

"Thanks," Cris said though she really wanted to know what they weren't telling her.

**"Okay, okay," said Cris, thoroughly discomposed, not to mention annoyed. "I'll… I'll try and say something to him… but it won't be-"**

**She fell silent. She could hear distant footsteps.**

**"Is that Kreacher coming downstairs?"**

**"No," said Sirius, glancing behind him. "It must be somebody your end." Cris' heart skipped several beats.**

"Get out of there and under the cloak." Padfoot said.

**"I'd better go!" she said hastily and pulled her head backwards out of the Grimmauld Place fire. For a moment her head seemed to be revolving on her shoulders, then she found herself kneeling in front of Umbridge's fire with it firmly back on and watching the emerald flames flicker and die.**

**"Quickly, quickly!" he heard a wheezy voice mutter right outside the office door. "Ah, she's left it open -"**

"It's Filch," Charlie said.

"Of course it's Filch," Bill said.

**Cris dived for the Invisibility Cloak and had just managed to pull it back over herself when Filch burst into the office.**

"Good, he won't see you." Sirius said with a sigh of relief.

**He looked absolutely delighted about something and was talking to himself feverishly as he crossed the room, pulled open a drawer in Umbridge's desk and began rifling through the papers inside it.**

**"Approval for Whipping… Approval for Whipping… I can do it at last… they've had it coming to them for years…"**

"What!" Mrs. Weasley screeched. "You better not do that to any of my children or you'll have another thing coming."

Fred and George looked at each other with wide eyes.

"I hope we have an escape plan." Fred said.

"We always do." George said. Cris went over and sat between them again hoping they wouldn't get hurt on her account.

**He pulled out a piece of parchment, kissed it, then shuffled rapidly back out of the door, clutching it to his chest.**

**Cris leapt to her feet and, making sure she had her bag and that the Invisibility Cloak was completely covering her, she wrenched open the door and hurried out of the office after Filch, who was hobbling along faster than Cris had ever seen him go.**

**One landing down from Umbridge's office, Cris thought it was safe to become visible again.**

**She pulled off the Cloak, shoved it in her bag and hurried onwards. There was a great deal of shouting and movement coming from the Entrance Hall. She ran down the marble staircase and found what looked like most of the school assembled there. **

"Whatever it is it'll be epic." Charlie said.

**It was just like the night when Trelawney had been sacked. Students were standing all around the walls in a great ring (some of them, Cris noticed, covered in a substance that looked very like Stinksap); teachers and ghosts were also in the crowd. Prominent among the onlookers were members of the Inquisitorial Squad, who were all looking exceptionally pleased with themselves, and Peeves, who was bobbing overhead, gazed down at Fred and George who stood in the middle of the floor with the unmistakable look of two people who had just been cornered. Cris' heart seemed to stopped and as she looked at them. **

"I thought you two knew how not to get caught." Bill said.

"We probably meant to get caught." Fred said.

"What are you two planning?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"We don't know," George said.

"It hasn't happened yet." Fred said.

**"So!" said Umbridge triumphantly. Cris realized she was standing just a few stairs in front of her, once more looking down upon her prey. **

**"So - you think it amusing to turn a school corridor into a swamp, do you?"**

"Why haven't we thought of that?" Padfoot asked. "That's brilliant!"

"I can't believe you two did that." Mrs. Weasley said.

**"Pretty amusing, yeah," said Fred, looking up at her without the slightest sign of fear.**

**Filch elbowed his way closer to Umbridge, almost crying with happiness.**

"I never want to see that." Bill said shuddering at the thought.

**"I've got the form, Headmistress," he said hoarsely, waving the piece of parchment Cris had just seen him take from her desk. "I've got the form and I've got the whips waiting… oh, let me do it now…"**

**"Very good, Argus," she said. "You two," she went on, gazing down at Fred and George, "are about to learn what happens to wrongdoers in my school."**

**"You know what?" said Fred. "I don't think we are."**

**He turned to his twin.**

**"George," said Fred, "I think we've outgrown full-time education."**

**"Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself," said George lightly.**

**"Time to test our talents in the real world, d'you reckon?" asked Fred.**

**"Definitely," said George. **

"You two are leaving," Bill said.

"Well it's either leave or get whipped by those two." Fred said.

"Yeah, I'd leave too." Charlie said.

"I wish you two wouldn't," Mrs. Weasley said.

"It hasn't happened yet Molly." Mr. Weasley said.

**And before Umbridge could say a word, they raised their wands and said together:**

**"Accio brooms!"**

"Taking a leaf out of my book, huh?" Cris asked.

"Most definitely." Fred said.

"Because you're awesome." George said.

**Cris heard a loud crash somewhere in the distance. Looking to her left, she ducked just in time.**

"How many times have I had to duck around you two?" Cris asked.

"A few times." They said.

**Fred and George's broomsticks, one still trailing the heavy chain and iron peg with which Umbridge had fastened them to the wall, were hurtling along the corridor towards their owners; they turned left, streaked down the stairs and stopped sharply in front of the twins, the chain clattering loudly on the flagged stone floor.**

"Let it hit the toad's head." George said.

"I hope so." Fred said.

**"We won't be seeing you," Fred told Professor Umbridge, swinging his leg over his broomstick.**

**"Yeah, don't bother to keep in touch," said George, mounting his own. **

"Like she would want to." Cris said.

**Fred looked around at the assembled students, at the silent, watchful crowd.**

**"If anyone fancies buying a Portable Swamp, as demonstrated upstairs, come to number ninety-three, Diagon Alley - Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes," he said in a loud voice. "Our new premises!"**

"Sweet!" Fred and George said high fiving each other.

**"Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat," added George, pointing at Professor Umbridge.**

"So everyone." Tonks said.

**"STOP THEM!" shrieked Umbridge, but it was too late. As the Inquisitorial Squad closed in, Fred and George kicked off from the floor, shooting fifteen feet into the air, the iron peg swinging dangerously below. Fred looked across the hall at the poltergeist bobbing on his level above the crowd.**

**"Give her hell from us, Peeves."**

**And Peeves, who Cris had never seen take an order from a student before, swept his belled hat from his head and sprang to a salute**

"You got Peeves to respect you." Padfoot said in envy.

"That's hard to do." Prongs said.

**as Fred and George spotted Cris swooped down low enough to kiss her and with a tumultuous applause from the students below they sped out of the open front doors into the glorious sunset.**

"Damn, now that's an exit." Charlie said.

"I wish you two took your NEWTS though." Mrs. Weasley said with a sigh.

"They did, I don't remember when but they did." James said.

"Good," she said.

"That's the chapter." Neville said.

"I think I'll start dinner." Mrs. Weasley said.


	33. Chapter 30: Grawp

Dinner was ready rather quickly for anyone to really do anything with anyone. Cris really wanted to either go flying or doing some gymnastics to clear her head. Cris just sat there picking at the plate in front of her.

"Cris, you need to eat." Sirius said from his place next to her. Cris looked up and sighed and started eating. Sirius smiled, after everything they learned they tried to get Cris to eat all of her plate at meal times. After Dinner they moved back into the living room and into their regular spots as Charlie picked up the book to read the next chapter.

"**Chapter 30: Grawp," **Charlie read.

"Grawp, what's a Grawp?" Gwen asked.

"I have no idea." Cris said.

"It sounds like some sort of Giant." Charlie said.

"Giant?" Mrs. Weasley asked going pale.

"All I said was sounds; it's probably just the name of a new pet of Hagrid's." Charlie said.

"Dear god, you better stay away from whatever it is." Lily said.

**The story of Fred and George's flight to freedom was retold so often over the next few days that Cris could tell it would soon become the stuff of Hogwarts legend: within a week, even those who had been eye-witnesses were half-convinced they had seen the twins dive-bomb Umbridge on their brooms and pelt her with Dungbombs before zooming out of the doors.**

"We should so do that." George whispered.

"Don't, not without me at least." Cris said.

"Alright," Fred said kissing her temple.

**In the immediate aftermath of their departure there was a great wave of talk about copying them. Cris frequently heard students saying things like, "Honestly some days I just feel like jumping on my broom and leaving this place," or else, "One more lesson like that and I might just do a Weasley."**

"They still use that expression." Keiran said with a laugh.

"Really?" the twins asked.

"Yeah, it's funny." Teddy said.

**Fred and George had made sure nobody was likely to forget them too soon. For one thing, they had not left instructions on how to remove the swamp that now filled the corridor on the fifth floor of the east wing. Cris smiled sadly to herself every time she passed it. She missed them, the secret kisses in the secret passages, the pranks they pulled on Umbridge and the things like that.**

"All the more trouble for the toad." Sirius said.

"Why am I reminded of Little Red Riding Hood all of a sudden?" Gwen asked.

"Good, you aren't the only one." Hermione said.

"What's Little Red Riding Hood?" Ginny asked.

"It's a children's story," Lily said.

"Oh,"

**Umbridge and Filch had been observed trying different means of removing it but without success. Eventually the area was roped off and Filch, gnashing his teeth furiously, was given the task of punting students across it to their classrooms.**

"Punting?" Charlie asked.

"Throwing us across it." Cris said.

"That doesn't sound fun." Ginny said.

**Cris was certain that teachers like McGonagall or Flitwick could have removed the swamp in an instant but, just as in the case of Fred and Georges Wildfire Whiz-bangs, they seemed to prefer to watch Umbridge struggle.**

**Then there were the two large broom-shaped holes in Umbridge's office door, through which Fred and George's Cleansweeps had smashed to rejoin their masters. Filch fitted a new door and removed Cris' Firebolt to the dungeons where, it was rumored, Umbridge had set an armed security troll to guard it. However, her troubles were far from over.**

"Good," Remus said.

**Inspired by Fred and George's example, a great number of students were now vying for the newly vacant positions of Troublemakers-in-Chief.**

"I wonder if they lived up to our expertise." Fred said.

"Well Lee was still there, so I'm so a good amount of Mischief was going on." George said.

"True," Fred said.

**In spite of the new door, somebody managed to slip a hairy-snouted Niffler into Umbridge's office, which promptly tore the place apart in its search for shiny objects, leapt on Umbridge when she entered and tried to gnaw the rings off her stubby fingers. **

"That was most definitely Lee," George said.

"Sounds like something he would do." Fred said.

**Dungbombs and Stink Pellets were dropped so frequently in the corridors that it became the new fashion for students to perform Bubble-Head Charms**

"Man, too bad I didn't know it the year before." Cris said.

**on themselves before leaving lessons, which ensured them a supply of fresh air, even though it gave them all the peculiar appearance of wearing upside-down goldfish bowls on their heads.**

**Filch prowled the corridors with a horsewhip ready in his hands, desperate to catch miscreants, but the problem was that there were now so many of them he never knew which way to turn. The Inquisitorial Squad was attempting to help him, but odd things kept happening to its members.**

Draco groaned and put his head in his hands.

"I wonder what happened." Luna said.

**Warrington of the Slytherin Quidditch team reported to the hospital wing with a horrible skin complaint that made him look as though he had been coated in cornflakes; Pansy Parkinson, to Hermione's delight, missed all her lessons the following day as she had sprouted antlers.**

**Meanwhile, it became clear just how many Skiving Snackboxes Fred and George had managed to sell before leaving Hogwarts. Umbridge only had to enter her classroom for the students assembled there to faint, vomit, develop dangerous fevers or else spout blood from both nostrils.**

"There seems to be a new disease spreading through the students." Remus said with a chuckle.

"I wonder how much money we've made by the time we left." George said.

"How much do you have now?" Bill asked.

"Over two hundred galleons." Fred said.

"Why didn't we think to do something like that?" Padfoot asked.

"Because we're enough trouble as it is." Moony said.

"That is very true; I think most of my greys are from you three." McGonagall said.

"You know you love us Minnie!" Prongs exclaimed.

**Shrieking with rage and frustration, she attempted to trace the mysterious symptoms to their source, but the students told her stubbornly they were suffering from 'Umbridge -itis'. After putting four successive classes in detention and failing to discover their secret, she was forced to give up and allow the bleeding, swooning, sweating and vomiting students to leave her classes in droves. **

"Things are really getting out of hand." Tonks said.

"It's amazing," Gwen said.

**But not even the users of the Snackboxes could compete with that master of chaos, Peeves, who seemed to have taken Fred's parting words deeply to heart. **

"Sweet," Fred said high-fiving George. Cris shook her head fondly as Charlie continued reading.

**Cackling madly, he soared through the school, upending tables, bursting out of blackboards, toppling statues and vases; twice he shut Mrs. Norris inside a suit of armor, from which she was rescued, yowling loudly, by the furious caretaker. Peeves smashed lanterns and snuffed out candles, juggled burning torches over the heads of screaming students, caused neatly stacked piles of parchment to topple into fires or out of windows; flooded the second floor when he pulled off all the taps in the bathrooms, dropped a bag of tarantulas in the middle of the Great Hall during breakfast and, whenever he fancied a break, spent hours at a time floating along after Umbridge and blowing loud raspberries every time she spoke.**

"That is awesome!" Prongs shouted.

"Though he could still do more." Padfoot said.

**None of the staff but Filch seemed to be stirring themselves to help her. Indeed, a week after Fred and George's departure Cris witnessed Professor McGonagall walking right past Peeves, who was determinedly loosening a crystal chandelier, and could have sworn she heard her tell the poltergeist out of the corner of her mouth, "It unscrews the other way."**

"No way!" the twins shouted.

"You are awesome!" the marauders shouted.

**To cap matters, Montague had still not recovered from his sojourn in the toilet; he remained confused and disorientated and his parents were to be observed one Tuesday morning striding up the front drive, looking extremely angry.**

**"****Should we say something?" said Hermione in a worried voice, pressing her cheek against the Charms window so that she could see Mr. and Mrs. Montague marching inside. "About what happened to him? In case it helps Madam Pomfrey cure him?"**

"He'll be fine." Fred said.

"He's fine, he's still really confused about what happened, but he's fine." Keiran said.

"See, he'll be just fine." George said.

**"****Course not, he'll recover," said Ron indifferently.**

**"****Anyway, more trouble for Umbridge, isn't it?" said Cris in a satisfied voice.**

**She and Ron both tapped the teacups they were supposed to be charming with their wands. **

**Cris' spouted four very short legs that could not reach the desk and wriggled pointlessly in midair. Ron's grew four very thin spindly legs that hoisted the cup off the desk with great difficulty, trembled for a few seconds, then folded, causing the cup to crack into two.**

**"****Reparo," said Hermione quickly, mending Ron's cup with a wave of her wand. "That's all very well, but what if Montague's permanently injured?"**

**"****Who cares?" said Ron irritably, while his teacup stood up drunkenly again, trembling violently at the knees. "Montague shouldn't have tried to take all those points from Gryffindor, should he? If you want to worry about anyone, Hermione, worry about me!"**

"A Quidditch game is coming up isn't it?" Ron asked.

"I'll say it's about the time to have a game." Remus said.

"I'm sure you'll do just fine." Sirius said.

"I hope so." Ron said.

**"****You?" she said, catching her teacup as it scampered happily away across the desk on four sturdy little willow-patterned legs, and replacing it in front of her. "Why should I be worried about you?"**

**"****When Mum's next letter finally gets through Umbridge's screening process," said Ron bitterly, now holding his cup up while its frail legs tried feebly to support its weight, "I'm going to be in deep trouble. I wouldn't be surprised if she's sent another Howler."**

"Why would you be in deep trouble?" Sirius asked.

"Probably because of the twins." Ron said.

**"****But -"**

**"****It'll be my fault Fred and George left, you wait," said Ron darkly. "She'll say I should've stopped them leaving, I should've grabbed the ends of their brooms and hung on or something… yeah, it'll be all my fault."**

"It wouldn't be your fault, Ron." Mrs. Weasley said.

"So I wouldn't get a howler?" Ron asked.

"No, probably a strongly worded letter but not a howler." Mrs. Weasley said. Ron breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back in his chair with Hermione cuddled next to him.

**"****Well, if she does say that it'll be very unfair, you couldn't have done anything! But I'm sure she won't, I mean, if it's really true they've got premises in Diagon Alley, they must have been planning this for ages."**

**"****Yeah, but that's another thing, how did they get premises?" said Ron, hitting his teacup so hard with his wand that its legs collapsed again and it lay twitching before him. "It's a bit dodgy isn't it? They'll need loads of Galleons to afford the rent on a place in Diagon Alley. She'll want to know what they've been up to, to get their hands on that sort of gold."**

"I wonder if I tell you yet." Cris said.

"It was very nice of you dear." Mrs. Weasley said.

"I didn't need it." Cris said with a shrug.

**"****Well, yes, that occurred to me, too," said Hermione, allowing her teacup to jog in neat little circles around Cris', whose stubby little legs were still unable to touch the desktop, "I've been wondering whether Mundungus has persuaded them to sell stolen goods or something awful."**

**"****He hasn't," said Cris curtly.**

**"****How do you know?" said Ron and Hermione together.**

**"****Because -" Cris hesitated, but the moment to confess finally seemed to have come. There was no good to be gained in keeping silent if it meant anyone suspected that Fred and George were criminals. "Because they got the gold from me. I gave them my Triwizard winnings last June."**

**There was a shocked silence, then Hermione's teacup jogged right over the edge of the desk and smashed on the floor.**

"Wow, you really shocked them." Sirius said.

"It doesn't take much." Cris said.

**"****Oh, Cris, you didn't!" she said.**

**"****Yes, I did," said Cris mutinously. "And I don't regret it, either. I didn't need the gold and they'll be great at running a joke shop."**

"That is very true," Teddy said.

"Business is very good, in fact they have two shops, one in Diagon and the other in Hogsmeade." Keiran said.

"They officially put Zonkos out of business." James said.

"That's crazy," Robin said.

**"****But this is excellent!" said Ron, looking thrilled. "It's all your fault, Cris - Mum can't blame me at all! Can I tell her?"**

**"****Yeah, I suppose you'd better," said Cris dully, "especially if she thinks they're receiving stolen cauldrons or something."**

**Hermione said nothing at all for the rest of the lesson, but Cris had a shrewd suspicion that her self-restraint was bound to crack before long. Sure enough, once they had left the castle for break and were standing around in the weak May sunshine, she fixed Cris with a beady eye and opened her mouth with a determined air.**

**Cris interrupted her before she had even started.**

**"****It's no good nagging me, it's done," she said firmly. "Fred and George have got the gold - spent a good bit of it, too, by the sounds of it - and I can't get it back from them and I don't want to. So save your breath, Hermione."**

"I don't think I was going to nag you about it, probably just making sure you made the right decision." Hermione said.

"Hermione, the Potter fortune is almost equal to that of the Black's and the Malfoy's a thousand galleons isn't going to make a difference." Prongs said.

"Really?" Cris asked wide-eyed.

"Yep,"

**"****I wasn't going to say anything about Fred and George!" she said in an injured voice.**

**Ron snorted disbelievingly and Hermione threw him a very dirty look.**

**"****No, I wasn't!" she said angrily. "As a matter of fact, I was going to ask Cris when she's going to go back to Snape and ask for more Occlumency lessons!" **

"Somehow I don't think that'll work very well, they haven't helped me at all." Cris said.

"If you want we can work on getting you calm and then we can work on blocking your mind." Sirius said.

"That'll be great, anyone is better than Snape." Cris said.

**Cris' heart sank. Once they had exhausted the subject of Fred and George's dramatic departure, which admittedly had taken many hours, Ron and Hermione had wanted to hear news of Sirius. As Cris had not confided in them the reason she had wanted to talk to Sirius in the first place, it had been hard to think of what to tell them; she had ended up saying, truthfully, that Sirius wanted Cris to resume Occlumency lessons. She had been regretting this ever since; Hermione would not let the subject drop and kept reverting to it when Cris least expected it.**

"So you should just expect it." Tonks said.

"Maybe I should." Cris said with a laugh.

**"****You can't tell me you've stopped having funny dreams," Hermione said now, "because Ron told me you were muttering in your sleep again last night."**

**Cris threw Ron a furious look. Ron had the grace to look ashamed of himself.**

**"****You were only muttering a bit," he mumbled apologetically. "Something about 'just a bit further'." **

**"****I dreamed I was watching you lot play Quidditch," Cris lied brutally. "I was trying to get you to stretch out a bit further to grab the Quaffle."**

"That works," Sirius said.

"You should just tell us the truth." Hermione said.

**Ron's ears went red. Cris felt a kind of vindictive pleasure; she had not, of course, dreamed anything of the sort.**

**Last night, she had once again made the journey along the Department of Mysteries corridor. She had passed through the circular room, then the room full of clicking and dancing light, until she found herself again inside that cavernous room full of shelves on which were ranged dusty glass spheres.**

Dumbledore sighed inaudibly; he was going to have to tell Cris about the prophecy soon if the book didn't tell.

**She had hurried straight towards row number ninety-seven, turned left, and ran along it… it had probably been then that she had spoken aloud… just a bit further… for she felt her conscious self struggling to wake… and before she had reached the end of the row, she had found herself lying in bed again, gazing up at the canopy of her four-poster.**

"Why can't I never reach it?" Cris asked.

"Maybe because Voldemort can't get to it, and I hope it stays that way." Sirius said.

"We all do." Remus said.

**"****You are trying to block your mind, aren't you?" said Hermione, looking beadily at Cris. "You are keeping going with your Occlumency?"**

**"****Of course I am," said Cris, trying to sound as though this question was insulting, but not quite meeting her eye. The truth was he was so intensely curious about what was hidden in that room full of dusty orbs, that she was quite keen for the dreams to continue. **

"Oh Cris, haven't you ever heard of curiosity killed the cat?" Gwen asked.

"Yes," Cris said blushing.

**The problem was that with just under a month to go until the exams and every free moment devoted to revision, her mind seemed so saturated with information when she went to bed she found it very difficult to get to sleep at all; and when she did, her overwrought brain presented her most nights with stupid dreams about the exams. She also suspected that part of her mind - the part that often spoke in Hermione's voice — now felt guilty on the occasions it strayed down that corridor ending in the black door, and sought to wake her before she could reach the journeys end.**

"Is it possible that Voldemort knows about the connection after the attack on Mr. Weasley?" Cris asked.

"It's possible, but that also means he could send a false vision if he wanted to." Sirius said.

"I hope he doesn't." Cris said.

**"You know," said Ron, whose ears were still flaming red, "if Montague doesn't recover before Slytherin play Hufflepuff, we might be in with a chance of winning the Cup."**

**"****Yeah, I s'pose so," said Cris, glad of a change of subject.**

**"****I mean, we've won one, lost one - if Slytherin lose to Hufflepuff next Saturday -"**

"There is the possibility." Sirius said.

"I hope we beat them!" Tonks exclaimed as she is the only Hufflepuff in the room.

**"****Yeah, that's right," said Cris, losing track of what she was agreeing to. Cho Chang had just walked across the courtyard, determinedly not looking at her.**

**The final match of the Quidditch season, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, was to take place on the last weekend of May. Although Slytherin had been narrowly defeated by Hufflepuff in their last match,**

Draco went wide eyed. "I'd never thought they would beat us."

"First time for everything." Tonks said smugly.

**Gryffindor were not daring to hope for victory, due mainly (though of course nobody said it to him) to Ron's abysmal goal-keeping record. **

Ron blushed and looked down. "Angelina should just let me leave the team."

"I'm sure you'll have a turn around." Charlie said.

**He, however, seemed to have found a new optimism.**

**"****I mean, I can't get any worse, can I?" he told Cris and Hermione grimly over breakfast on the morning of the match. "Nothing to lose now, is there?"**

**"****You know," said Hermione, as she and Cris walked down to the pitch a little later in the midst of a very excitable crowd, "I think Ron might do better without Fred and George around. They never exactly gave him a lot of confidence."**

**Luna Lovegood overtook them with what appeared to be a live eagle perched on top of her head.**

"I wonder if I have a badger one." Luna said.

"What about a snake?" Draco asked.

"I'll make one now of course." Luna said with a smile kissing his cheek.

**"****Oh, gosh, I forgot!" said Hermione, watching the eagle flapping its wings as Luna walked serenely past a group of cackling and pointing Slytherins. "Cho will be playing, won't she?"**

**Cris, who had not forgotten this, merely grunted.**

**They found seats in the topmost row of the stands. It was a fine, clear day; Ron could not wish for better, and Cris found herself hoping against hope that Ron would not give the Slytherins cause for more rousing choruses of 'Weasley is our King'. **

"I hope not." Ron said.

"We'll see." Hermione said squeezing his hand.

**Lee Jordan, who had been very dispirited since Fred and George had left, was commentating as usual. As the teams zoomed out on to the pitch he named the players with something less than his usual gusto.**

"That's because he doesn't have his partners in crime." Sirius said. He definitely hadn't been the same since Prongs died.

**"… Bradley… Davies… Chang," he said, and Cris felt her anger surge at the thought of Cho as she walked out on to the pitch, her shiny black hair rippling in the slight breeze. **

"Just don't think about her anymore." Prongs said.

**"And they're off!" said Lee. "And Davies takes the Quaffle immediately, Ravenclaw Captain Davies with the Quaffle, he dodges Johnson, he dodges Bell, he dodges Spinnet as well… he's going straight for goal! He's going to shoot - and - and -" Lee swore very loudly. "And he's scored."**

**Cris and Hermione groaned with the rest of the Gryffindors. Predictably, horribly, the Slytherins on the other side of the stands began to sing: "Weasley cannot save a thing He cannot block a single ring…"**

Ron groaned at that.

"I'm sure it'll turn out all right." Charlie said.

"I hope so." Ron said.

**"Cris" said a hoarse voice in Cris' ear. "Hermione…"**

**Cris looked round and saw Hagrid's enormous bearded face sticking between the seats.**

**Apparently, he had squeezed his way all along the row behind, for the first- and second-years he had just passed had a ruffled, flattened look about them. For some reason, Hagrid was bent double as though anxious not to be seen, though he was still at least four feet taller than everybody else.**

**"Listen," he whispered, "can yeh come with me? Now? While ev'ryone's watchin' the match?"**

"Wait, what, you two aren't going to stay?" Ron asked.

"I don't know." Hermione said.

"I wonder what he wants." Cris said.

**"Er… can't it wait, Hagrid?" asked Cris. "Till the match is over?"**

**"No," said Hagrid. "No, Cris, it's gotta be now… while ev'ryone's lookin' the other way… please?"**

**Hagrid's nose was gently dripping blood. His eyes were both blackened. Cris had not seen him this close-up since his return to the school; he looked utterly woebegone.**

**"Course," said Cris at once, "course we'll come."**

"I hope he'll tell you what has been hurting him." Bill said.

"Me too," Cris said.

**Cris and Hermione edged back along their row of seats, causing much grumbling among the students who had to stand up for them. The people in Hagrid's row were not complaining, merely attempting to make themselves as small as possible.**

**"I 'ppreciate this, you two, I really do," said Hagrid as they reached the stairs. He kept looking around nervously as they descended towards the lawn below. "I jus' hope she doesn' notice us goin'."**

**"You mean Umbridge?" said Cris. "She won't, she's got her whole Inquisitorial Squad sitting with her, didn't you see? She must be expecting trouble at the match."**

**"Yeah, well, a bit o' trouble wouldn' hurt," said Hagrid, pausing to peer around the edge of the stands to make sure the stretch of lawn between there and his cabin was deserted. "Give us more time."**

"More time for what?" Lily asked.

"Whatever it is, I hope it won't be too dangerous." Robin said.

**"What is it, Hagrid?" said Hermione, looking up at him with a concerned expression on her face as they hurried across the grass towards the edge of the Forest.**

**"Yeh - yeh'll see in a mo'," said Hagrid, looking over his shoulder as a great roar rose from the stands behind them. "Hey - did someone jus' score?"**

**"It'll be Ravenclaw," said Cris heavily.**

"Well, you don't know for sure." Bill said.

"I hope we scored." Ron said.

**"Good… good…" said Hagrid distractedly. "Tha's good…"**

**They had to jog to keep up with him as he strode across the lawn, looking around with every other step. When they reached his cabin, Hermione turned automatically left towards the front door. Hagrid, however, walked straight past it into the shade of the trees on the outermost edge of the Forest, where he picked up a crossbow that was leaning against a tree. When he realized they were no longer with him, he turned. **

"You're going into the forest again." Sirius said.

"It seems we go in there every year." Cris said.

"Yeah, it does seem like it." Hermione said.

"But why is he taking the crossbow with him?" Ron asked.

"He always does, just in case." Remus said.

**"We're goin' in here," he said, jerking his shaggy head behind him.**

**"Into the Forest?" said Hermione, perplexed.**

**"Yeah," said Hagrid. "C'mon now, quick, before we're spotted!"**

**Cris and Hermione looked at each other, then ducked into the cover of the trees behind Hagrid, who was already striding away from them into the green gloom, his crossbow over his arm. Cris and Hermione ran to catch up with him.**

**"Hagrid, why are you armed?" said Cris.**

"We're always armed." Draco said.

"I mean a weapon." Cris said rolling her eyes.

"Right," Draco said.

**"Jus' a precaution," said Hagrid, shrugging his massive shoulders.**

**"You didn't bring your crossbow the day you showed us the Thestrals," said Hermione timidly.**

**"Nah, well, we weren' goin' in so far then," said Hagrid. "An' anyway, tha' was before Firenze left the Forest, wasn' it?"**

"Yeah, I think the Centaurs wouldn't be too kind right about now." Bill said.

**"Why does Firenze leaving make a difference?" asked Hermione curiously.**

**"Cause the other centaurs are good an' riled at me, tha's why," said Hagrid quietly, glancing around. "They used ter be - well, yeh couldn' call 'em friendly — but we got on all righ'. Kept 'emselves to 'emselves, bu' always turned up if I wanted a word. Not anymore."**

**He sighed deeply.**

**"Firenze said they're angry because he went to work for Dumbledore," Cris said, tripping on a protruding root because she was busy watching Hagrid's profile.**

**"Yeah," said Hagrid heavily. "Well, angry doesn' cover it. Ruddy livid. If I hadn' stepped in, I reckon they'd've kicked Firenze ter death -"**

"I wonder what is going to happen to them." Draco said.

"I 'ope nothing too bad." Fleur said.

**"They attacked him?" said Hermione, sounding shocked.**

**"Yep," said Hagrid gruffly, forcing his way through several low-hanging branches. "He had half the herd on to him."**

**"And you stopped it?" said Cris, amazed and impressed. "By yourself?"**

**"Course I did, couldn't stand by an' watch 'em kill 'im, could I?" said Hagrid. "Lucky I was passin', really… an' I'd've thought Firenze mighta remembered tha' before he started sendin' me stupid warnin's!" he added hotly and unexpectedly.**

**Cris and Hermione looked at each other, startled, but Hagrid, scowling, did not elaborate.**

**"Anyway," he said, breathing a little more heavily than -usual, "since then the other centaurs've bin livid with me, an' the trouble is they've got a lot of influence in the Forest… cleverest creatures in here."**

**"Is that why we're here, Hagrid?" asked Hermione. "The centaurs?"**

**"Ah, no," said Hagrid, shaking his head dismissively, "no, it's not them. Well, o' course, they could complicate the problem, yeah… but yeh'll see what I mean in a bit." **

"What is he up too?" Padfoot asked.

"I hope it's nothing too dangerous." Mrs. Weasley said.

"It's Hagrid mum, it's going to be dangerous." Bill said.

**On this incomprehensible note he fell silent and forged a little ahead, taking one stride for every three of theirs, so that they had great trouble keeping up with him.**

**The path was becoming increasingly overgrown and the trees grew so closely together as they walked further and further into the Forest that it was as dark as dusk. They were soon a long way past the clearing where Hagrid had shown them the Thestrals, but Cris felt no sense of unease until Hagrid stepped unexpectedly off the path and began wending his way in and out of trees towards the dark heart of the Forest.**

**"Hagrid!" said Cris, fighting her way through thickly knotted brambles, over which Hagrid had stepped with ease, and remembering very vividly what had happened to her on the other occasion she had stepped off the Forest path. **

"**I wish we could go in our animagus forms, it'll make this much easier." Hermione muttered as she scrambled over the knotted brambles as well. **

"**No kidding, we could easily jump this in our other forms." Cris muttered back.**

"Yeah, too bad, it would make things much simpler." Sirius said.

"Not to mention probably safer." Remus said.

**"Where are we going?"**

**"Bit further," said Hagrid over his shoulder. "C'mon, Cris… we need ter keep together now."**

**It was a great struggle to keep up with Hagrid, what with branches and thickets of thorn through which Hagrid marched as easily as if they were cobwebs, but which snagged Cris and Hermione's robes, frequently entangling them so severely that they had to stop for minutes at a time to free themselves. Cris' arms and legs were soon covered in small cuts and scratches.**

**They were so deep in the Forest now that sometimes all Cris could see of Hagrid in the gloom was a massive dark shape ahead of her. Any sound seemed threatening in the muffled silence.**

**The breaking of a twig echoed loudly and the tiniest rustle of movement, even though it might have been made by an innocent sparrow, caused Cris to peer through the gloom for a culprit. It occurred to her that she had never managed to get this far into the Forest without meeting some kind of creature; their absence struck her as rather ominous.**

"That means something they fear is around and they don't want to be near it." Remus said.

"This is bad." Lily said.

"I hope Hagrid knows what he's doing." Mrs. Weasley said.

"**Maybe we bes' jus' stop fer a momen', so I can… fill yeh in," said Hagrid. "Before we ge' there, like."**

"It's a good thing he did; mum told me she would have flipped." Lily J said.

"What is it?" Cris asked.

"Not telling yet," Lily J said.

**"Good!" said Hermione, as Cris set her back on her feet. They both murmured "Lumos!" and their wand-tips ignited. Hagrid's face swam through the gloom by the light of the two wavering beams and Cris saw again that he looked nervous and sad.**

**"Righ'," said Hagrid. "Well… see… the thing is…"**

**He took a great breath.**

**"Well, there's a good chance I'm goin' ter be gettin' the sack any day now," he said.**

"If Umbridge dares I don't know what I'll do." Charlie said.

"It hasn't happened yet." Cris reminded him.

"Right,"

**Cris and Hermione looked at each other, then back at him.**

**"But you've lasted this long -" Hermione said tentatively. "What makes you think -"**

**"Umbridge reckons it was me that put tha' Niffler in her office."**

**"And was it?" said Cris, before she could stop herself.**

"Why did I ask that?" Cris asked.

"I don't know Bambi, you've always been curious though." Fred said.

"That's true,"

**"No, it ruddy well wasn'!" said Hagrid indignantly. "On'y any-thin' ter do with magical creatures an' she thinks it's got somethin' ter do with me. Yeh know she's bin lookin' fer a chance ter get rid of me ever since I got back. I don' wan' ter go, o' course, but if it wasn' fer… well… the special circumstances I'm abou' ter explain to yeh, I'd leave righ' now, before she's go' the chance ter do it in front o' the whole school, like she did with Trelawney."**

"She better not do that to Hagrid." Bill said.

"I'd like to see her try." Sirius said.

**Cris and Hermione both made noises of protest, but Hagrid overrode them with a wave of one of his enormous hands.**

**"It's not the end o' the world, I'll be able ter help Dumbledore once I'm outta here, I can be useful ter the Order. An' you lot'll have Grubbly-Plank, yeh'll - yeh'll get through yer exams fine…"**

**His voice trembled and broke.**

**"Don' worry abou' me," he said hastily, as Hermione made to pat his arm. He pulled his enormous spotted handkerchief from the pocket of his waistcoat and mopped his eyes with it.**

**"Look, I wouldn' be tellin' yer this at all if I didn' have ter. See, if I go… well, I can' leave withou'… withou' tellin' someone… because I'll - I'll need yeh two ter help me. An' Ron, if he's willin'."**

"Of course I'd be willing, he's my friend too." Ron said.

"It's good that Hagrid so many friends." Charlie said.

"That it is." Dumbledore said.

**"Of course we'll help you," said Cris at once. "What do you want us to do?"**

**Hagrid gave a great sniff and patted Cris wordlessly on the shoulder with such force Cris was knocked sideways into a tree.**

**"I knew yeh'd say yes," said Hagrid into his handkerchief, "but I won'… never… forget… well… c'mon… jus' a little bit further through here… watch yerselves, now, there's nettles…"**

**They walked on in silence for another fifteen minutes; Cris had opened her mouth to ask how much further they had to go when Hagrid threw out his right arm to signal that they should stop.**

**"Really easy" he said softly. "Very quiet, now…"**

**They crept forwards and Cris saw that they were facing a large, smooth mound of earth nearly as tall as Hagrid that she thought, with a jolt of dread, was sure to be the lair of some enormous animal. Trees had been ripped up at the roots all around the mound, so that it stood on a bare patch of ground surrounded by heaps of trunks and boughs that formed a kind of fence or barricade, behind which Cris, Hermione and Hagrid now stood.**

"It isn't what I think it is, is it?" Lily asked quietly.

"I think it is." Moony said.

"What is it?" Padfoot asked.

"If you let me read we'll find out." Charlie said.

**"Sleepin'," breathed Hagrid.**

**Sure enough, Cris could hear a distant, rhythmic rumbling that sounded like a pair of enormous lungs at work. **

Most of the Order's eyes widened as they realized what Hagrid had hidden in the forest.

**She glanced sideways at Hermione, who was gazing at the mound with her mouth slightly open. She looked utterly terrified.**

**"Hagrid," she said in a whisper barely audible over the sound of the sleeping creature, "who is he?"**

**Cris found this an odd question…"What is it?" was the one she had been planning on asking. But as she studied it closer her eyes widened as she realized what it was.**

**"Hagrid, you told us -" said Hermione, her wand now shaking in her hand, "you told us none of them wanted to come!" **

"No way! He brought a bloody giant to the forest?" Remus shouted.

"I hope he doesn't do anything to us." Cris said.

"Me too," Hermione said.

"You two better tell an adult." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Mum, somehow I don't think they will." Bill said.

"But now we know about it." McGonagall said.

**The great mound of earth, on which she, Hermione and Hagrid could easily have stood, was moving slowly up and down in time with the deep, grunting breathing. **

**"Well - no - he didn' want ter come," said Hagrid, sounding desperate. "But I had ter bring him, Hermione, I had ter!"**

"What does he mean had to?" Bill asked.

"I honestly don't know." Remus said.

"Could he be family?" Cris asked.

"It would make sense." Hermione said.

"Maybe," Remus said.

**"But why?" asked Hermione, who sounded as though she wanted to cry. "Why - what - oh, Hagrid!"**

**"I knew if I jus' got him back," said Hagrid, sounding close to tears himself, "an' - an' taught him a few manners - I'd be able ter take him outside an' show ev'ryone he's harmless!"**

"Since when is a giant harmless?" Amelia asked.

"Well it is Hagrid," Bill said.

**"Harmless!" said Hermione shrilly, and Hagrid made frantic hushing noises with his hands as the enormous creature before them grunted loudly and shifted in its sleep. "He's been hurting you all this time, hasn't he? That's why you've had all these injuries!"**

**"He don' know his own strength!" said Hagrid earnestly. "An' he's gettin' better; he's not fightin' so much anymore —"**

"But he's still getting hurt." Remus said.

**"So, this is why it took you two months to get home!" said Hermione distractedly. "Oh, Hagrid, why did you bring him back if he didn't want to come? Wouldn't he have been happier with his own people?"**

**"They were all bullyin' him, Hermione, 'cause he's so small!" said Hagrid.**

"A small giant? Sounds like an oxymoron." Gwen said.

"I know," Cris said.

**"Small?" said Cris. "Small?"**

**"Cris, Hermione, I couldn' leave him," said Hagrid, tears now trickling down his bruised face into his beard. "See - he's my brother!"**

"Brother?!" the room cried out.

"Since when did Hagrid have a brother?" Bill asked.

"Since he was born." Padfoot said. The group laughed at that.

**Hermione simply stared at him, her mouth open.**

**"Hagrid, when you say 'brother'," said Cris slowly, "do you mean —?"**

**"Well - half-brother," amended Hagrid. "Turns out me mother took up with another giant when she left me dad, an' she went an' had Grawp here -"**

"So that's why he was talking about family earlier." Tonks said.

**"Grawp?" said Cris.**

**"Yeah… well, tha's what it sounds like when he says his name," said Hagrid anxiously. "He don' speak a lot of English… I've bin tryin' ter teach him… anyway, she don' seem ter have liked him much more'n she liked me. See, with giantesses, what counts is producin' good big kids, and he's always been a bit on the runty side fer a giant - on'y sixteen foot -"**

"That is small for a giant." Charlie said.

"What's the average height?" Gwen asked.

"Around twenty-five feet." Remus said.

"He is pretty small then." Gwen said.

**"Oh, yes, tiny!" said Hermione, with a kind of hysterical sarcasm. "Absolutely minuscule!"**

**"He was bein' kicked aroun' by all o' them - I jus' couldn' leave him -"**

**"Did Madame Maxime want to bring him back?" asked Cris.**

"I doubt it," Fleur said.

**"She - well, she could see it was right importan' ter me," said Hagrid, twisting his enormous hands. "Bu' - bu' she got a bit tired o' him after a while, I must admit… so we split up on the journey home… she promised not ter tell anyone, though…"**

**"How on earth did you get him back without anyone noticing?" said Cris.**

**"Well, tha's why it took so long, see," said Hagrid. "Could on'y travel by nigh' an' through wild country an' stuff. Course, he covers the ground pretty well when he wants ter, but he kep' wantin' ter go back."**

"He should have let him, I understand that he's family but he shouldn't force him to do something he doesn't want to do." Tonks said.

**"Oh, Hagrid, why on earth didn't you let him!" said Hermione, flopping down on to a ripped up tree and burying her face in her hands. "What do you think you're going to do with a violent giant who doesn't even want to be here!"**

**"Well, now - 'violent' - tha's a bit harsh," said Hagrid, still twisting his hands agitatedly. "I'll admit he mighta taken a couple o' swings at me when he's bin in a bad mood, but he's gettin' better, loads better, settlin' down well."**

"I don't think," Kit said

"There's such thing," Moony said.

"As a calm giant." They said together.

"Hey that's our thing!" Fred, George, Lily J and James said.

**"What are those ropes for, then?" Cris asked.**

**She had just noticed ropes thick as saplings stretching from around the trunks of the largest nearby trees towards the place where Grawp lay curled on the ground with his back to them.**

**"You have to keep him tied up?" said Hermione faintly.**

"Hermione, please don't start up another group." Ron said.

"I won't," Hermione said.

**"Well… yeah…" said Hagrid, looking anxious. "See - it's like I say - he doesn' really know 'is own strength."**

**Cris understood now why there had been such a suspicious lack of any other living creature in this part of the Forest.**

"Well most creatures don't really like giants so it's understandable." Robin said.

**"So, what is it you want Cris and Ron and me to do?" Hermione asked apprehensively.**

**"Look after him," said Hagrid croakily. "After I'm gone."**

"He wants you three to do what?!" Mrs. Weasley screeched.

"To look after him apparently." Cris said.

"I hope you three don't get hurt." Sirius said.

"I'm sure we won't." Cris said.

**Cris and Hermione exchanged miserable looks, Cris uncomfortably aware that she had already promised Hagrid that she would do whatever he asked.**

**"What - what does that involve, exactly?" Hermione enquired.**

**"Not food or anythin'!" said Hagrid eagerly. "He can get his own food, no problem. Birds an' deer an' stuff… no, it's company he needs. If I jus' knew someone was carryin' on tryin' ter help him a bit… teachin' him, yeh know."**

**Cris said nothing, but turned to look back at the gigantic form lying asleep on the ground in front of them. Unlike Hagrid, who simply looked like an oversized human, Grawp looked strangely misshapen. What Cris had taken to be a vast mossy boulder to the left of the great earthen mound she now recognized as Grawp's head. It was much larger in proportion to the body than a human head, and was almost perfectly round and covered with tightly curling, close-growing hair the color of bracken. The rim of a single large, fleshy ear was visible on top of the head, which seemed to sit, rather like Uncle Vernon's, directly upon the shoulders with little or no neck in between. The back, under what looked like a dirty brownish smock comprised of animal skins sewn roughly together, was very broad; and as Grawp slept, it seemed to strain a little at the rough seams of the skins. The legs were curled up under the body. Cris could see the soles of enormous, filthy, bare feet, large as sledges, resting one on top of the other on the earthy Forest floor.**

"He sounds beautiful." Padfoot said.

"I didn't know you swung that way." Prongs said.

"I don't!" Padfoot exclaimed. The group laughed at that so Charlie started reading again.

**"You want us to teach him," Cris said in a hollow voice. She now understood what Firenze's warning had meant. His attempt is not working. He would do better to abandon it. Of course, the other creatures who lived in the Forest would have heard Hagrid's fruitless attempts to teach Grawp English.**

"Well some giants can learn some can't." Amelia said.

**"Yeah - even if yeh jus' talk ter him a bit," said Hagrid hopefully. "Cause I reckon, if he can talk ter people, he'll understand more that we all like 'im really, an' want 'im ter stay."**

**Cris looked at Hermione, who peered back at her from between the fingers over her face.**

**"Kind of makes you wish we had Norbert back, doesn't it?" she said, and she gave a very shaky laugh.**

**"Yeh'll do it, then?" said Hagrid, who did not seem to have caught what Cris had just said.**

**"We'll…" said Cris, already bound by her promise. "We'll try, Hagrid."**

**"I knew I could count on yeh, Cris," Hagrid said, beaming in a very watery way and dabbing at his face with his handkerchief again. "An' I don' want yeh ter put yerself out too much, like… I know yeh've got exams… if yeh could jus' nip down here in yer Invisibility Cloak maybe once a week an' have a little chat with 'im.**

"Wow he's encouraging them to sneak out." Remus said.

"I'd never thought I'd see the day." Robin said.

**I'll wake 'im up, then - introduce yeh -"**

"At least he introduced you, it would be very bad if he didn't." Remus said.

"Yeah, I really don't want to have a broken leg." Cris said.

"Me either," Hermione said.

"Count me in too, I've already had my leg broken once and that wasn't fun at all." Ron said.

**"Wha— no!" said Hermione, jumping up. "Hagrid, no, don't wake him, really, we don't need -"**

**But Hagrid had already stepped over the great tree trunk in front of them and was proceeding towards Grawp. When he was about ten feet away, he lifted a long, broken bough from the ground, smiled reassuringly over his shoulder at Cris and Hermione, then poked Grawp hard in the middle of the back with the end of the bough.**

"Hagrid should know better than to startle the giant." Charlie said.

**The giant gave a roar that echoed around the silent Forest; birds in the treetops overhead rose twittering from their perches and soared away. **

**In front of Cris and Hermione, meanwhile, the gigantic Grawp was rising from the ground, which shuddered as he placed an enormous hand upon it to push himself on to his knees. He turned his head to see who and what had disturbed him.**

**"All righ', Grawpy?" said Hagrid, in a would-be cheery voice, backing away with the long bough raised, ready to poke Grawp again. "Had a nice sleep, eh?"**

**Cris and Hermione retreated as far as they could while still keeping the giant within their sights. Grawp knelt between two trees he had not yet uprooted. They looked up into his startlingly huge face that resembled a grey full moon swimming in the gloom of the clearing. It was as though the features had been hewn on to a great stone ball. The nose was stubby and shapeless, the mouth lopsided and full of misshapen yellow teeth the size of half-bricks; the eyes, small by giant standards, were a muddy greenish-brown and just now were half-gummed together with sleep. **

"He sounds even worse than his description earlier." Tonks said.

**Grawp raised dirty knuckles, each as big as a cricket ball, to his eyes, rubbed vigorously, then, without warning, pushed himself to his feet with surprising speed and agility.**

**"Oh my!" Cris heard Hermione squeal, terrified, beside her.**

**The trees to which the other ends of the ropes around Grawp's wrists and ankles were attached creaked ominously. He was, as Hagrid had said, at least sixteen feet tall. Gazing blearily around, Grawp reached out a hand the size of a beach umbrella, seized a bird's nest from the upper branches of a towering pine and turned it upside-down with a roar of apparent displeasure that there was no bird in it; eggs fell like grenades towards the ground and Hagrid threw his arms over his head to protect himself.**

**"Anyway, Grawpy," shouted Hagrid, looking up apprehensively in case of further falling eggs,**

"He could always eat the eggs." Gwen said.

"I don't think Giants eat eggs." Bill said.

**"I've brought some friends ter meet yeh. Remember, I told yeh I might? Remember, when I said I might have ter go on a little trip an' leave them ter look after yeh fer a bit? Remember that, Grawpy?"**

**But Grawp merely gave another low roar; it was hard to say whether he was listening to Hagrid or whether he even recognized the sounds Hagrid was making as speech. He had now seized the top of the pine tree and was pulling it towards him, evidently for the simple pleasure of seeing how far it would spring back when he let go.**

**"Now, Grawpy, don' do that!" shouted Hagrid. "Tha's how you ended up pullin' up the others -"**

**And sure enough, Cris could see the earth around the tree's roots beginning to crack.**

"They're really that strong?" Gwen asked.

"Yep," Viktor said.

**"I got company for yeh!" Hagrid shouted. "Company, see! Look down, yeh big buffoon, I brought yeh some friends!"**

**"Oh, Hagrid, don't," moaned Hermione, but Hagrid had already raised the bough again and gave Grawp's knee a sharp poke.**

**The giant let go of the top of the tree, which swayed alarmingly and deluged Hagrid with a rain of pine needles, and looked down.**

**"This," said Hagrid, hastening over to where Cris and Hermione stood, "is Cris, Grawp! Cris Potter!**

"Giants don't know me do they?" Cris asked.

"Some might." Sirius said.

"Great," she moaned.

**She migh' be comin' ter visit yeh if I have ter go away, understand?"**

**The giant had only just realized that Cris and Hermione were there. They watched, in great trepidation, as he lowered his huge boulder of a head so that he could peer blearily at them.**

**"An' this is Hermione, see? Her—" Hagrid hesitated. Turning to Hermione, he said, "Would yeh mind if he called yeh Hermy, Hermione? On'y it's a difficult name fer him ter remember."**

**"No, not at all," squeaked Hermione.**

"We'll start calling you that now." Fred said.

"Don't you dare!" Hermione shouted.

"Okay, okay," the twins said.

**"This is Hermy, Grawp! An' she's gonna be comin' an' all! Is'n' tha' nice? Eh? Two friends fer yeh ter - GRAWPY, NO!"**

**Grawp's hand had shot out of nowhere towards Hermione; Cris seized her and pulled her backwards behind the tree, so that Grawp's fist scraped the trunk but closed on thin air.**

"Why did he go for Hermione instead of Cris?" Tonks asked.

"Probably the hair, I usually keep mine up, Hermione doesn't really." Cris said.

"That's true." Hermione said.

**"BAD BOY, GRAWPY!" they heard Hagrid yelling, as Hermione clung to Cris behind the tree, shaking and whimpering. "VERY BAD BOY! YEH DON' GRAB - OUCH!"**

**Cris poked her head out from around the trunk and saw Hagrid lying on his back, his hand over his nose. Grawp, apparently losing interest, had straightened up and was again engaged in pulling back the pine as far as it would go.**

**"Righ'," said Hagrid thickly, getting up with one hand pinching his bleeding nose and the other grasping his crossbow, "well… there yeh are… yeh've met him an' - an' now he'll know yeh when yeh come back. Yeah… well…"**

**He looked up at Grawp, who was now pulling back the pine with an expression of detached pleasure on his boulderish face; the roots were creaking as he ripped them away from the ground.**

''**Well, I reckon tha's enough fer one day," said Hagrid. "We'll -er - we'll go back now, shall we?"**

"Yes please, get out of there." Lily said.

**Cris and Hermione nodded. Hagrid shouldered his crossbow again and, still pinching his nose, led the way back into the trees.**

**Nobody spoke for a while, not even when they heard the distant crash that meant Grawp had pulled over the pine tree at last. Hermione's face was pale and set. Cris could not think of a single thing to say. What on earth was going to happen when somebody found out that Hagrid had hidden Grawp in the Forbidden Forest? And she had promised that she, Ron and Hermione would continue Hagrid's totally pointless attempts to civilize the giant. How could Hagrid, even with his immense capacity to delude himself that fanged monsters were loveably harmless, fool himself that Grawp would ever be fit to mix with humans?**

**"Hold it," said Hagrid abruptly, just as Cris and Hermione were struggling through a patch of thick knotgrass behind him. He pulled an arrow out of the quiver over his shoulder and fitted it into the crossbow. Cris and Hermione raised their wands; now that they had stopped walking, they, too, could hear movement close by.**

**"Oh, blimey" said Hagrid quietly.**

**"I thought we told you, Hagrid," said a deep male voice, "that you are no longer welcome here?"**

"Not good, it's the Centaurs." Bill said.

"I hope you get out alright." Mrs. Weasley said.

**A man's naked torso seemed for an instant to be floating towards them through the dappled green half-light; then they saw that his waist joined smoothly into a horse's chestnut body. This centaur had a proud, high-cheekboned face and long black hair. Like Hagrid, he was armed; a quiverful of arrows and a longbow were slung over his shoulders.**

**"How are yeh, Magorian?" said Hagrid warily.**

**The trees behind the centaur rustled and four or five more centaurs emerged behind him. Cris recognized the black-bodied and bearded Bane, whom she had met nearly four years ago on the same night she had met Firenze. Bane gave no sign that he had ever seen Cris before.**

**"So," he said, with a nasty inflection in his voice, before turning immediately to Magorian. "We agreed, I think, what we would do if this human ever showed his face in the Forest again?"**

**"'This human' now, am I?" said Hagrid testily. "Jus ' fer stoppin' all of yeh committin' murder?"**

**"You ought not to have meddled, Hagrid," said Magorian. "Our ways are not yours, nor are our laws. Firenze has betrayed and dishonored us."**

"That's just sad; he was just helping a friend." Gwen said.

"That's 'ow zey are." Fleur said.

**"I dunno how yeh' work that out," said Hagrid impatiently. "He's done nothin' except help Albus Dumbledore -"**

**"Firenze has entered into servitude to humans," said a grey centaur with a hard, deeply lined face.**

**"Servitude!" said Hagrid scathingly. "He's doin' Dumbledore a favor is all -"**

**"He is peddling our knowledge and secrets among humans," said Magorian quietly. "There can be no return from such disgrace."**

"They do eventually take him back though." Teddy said.

"That's good." Ginny said.

**"If yeh say so," said Hagrid, shrugging, "but personally I think yeh're makin' a big mistake -"**

**"As are you, human," said Bane, "coming back into our Forest when we warned you -"**

**"Now, yeh listen ter me," said Hagrid angrily. "I'll have less of the 'our' Forest, if it's all the same ter yeh. It's not up ter yeh who comes an' goes in here -"**

**"No more is it up to you, Hagrid," said Magorian smoothly. "I shall let you pass today because you are accompanied by your young —"**

"Your young?" Cris asked.

"That's what they call children." Sirius said.

**"They're not his!" interrupted Bane contemptuously. "Students, Magorian, from up at the school! They have probably already profited from the traitor Firenze's teachings." **

"Not really," Cris and Hermione said.

**"Nevertheless," said Magorian calmly, "the slaughter of foals is a terrible crime - we do not touch the innocent. Today, Hagrid, you pass. Henceforth, stay away from this place. You forfeited the friendship of the centaurs when you helped the traitor Firenze escape us."**

**"I won' be kept outta the Fores' by a bunch o' old mules like yeh!" said Hagrid loudly. **

The adults in the group groaned and head slapped some of them anyway.

**"Hagrid," said Hermione in a high-pitched and terrified voice, as both Bane and the grey centaur pawed at the ground, "let's go, please let's go!"**

**Hagrid moved forwards, but his crossbow was still raised and his eyes were still fixed threateningly upon Magorian.**

**"We know what you are keeping in the Forest, Hagrid!" Magorian called after them, as the centaurs slipped out of sight. "And our tolerance is waning!"**

**Hagrid turned and gave every appearance of wanting to walk straight back to Magorian.**

**"Yeh'll tolerate 'im as long as he's here, it's as much his Forest as yours!" he yelled,**

"Well they were there first." Padfoot said.

"That's true," Prongs said.

**as Cris and Hermione both pushed with all their might against Hagrid's moleskin waistcoat in an effort to keep him moving forwards. Still scowling, he looked down; his expression changed to mild surprise at the sight of them both pushing him; he seemed not to have felt it.**

**"Calm down, you two," he said, turning to walk on while they panted along behind him. "Ruddy old mules, though, eh?"**

**"Hagrid," said Hermione breathlessly, skirting the patch of nettles they had passed on their way there, "if the centaurs don't want humans in the Forest, it doesn't really look as though Cris and I will be able -"**

**"Ah, you heard what they said," said Hagrid dismissively, "they wouldn't hurt foals - I mean, kids.**

"That's true, though you three could use your animagus forms to go in." Sirius said.

"Sirius! Don't tell them that." Mrs. Weasley said.

**Anyway, we can' let ourselves be pushed aroun' by that lot."**

**"Nice try," Cris murmured to Hermione, who looked crestfallen.**

**At last they rejoined the path and, after another ten minutes, the trees began to thin; they were able to see patches of clear blue sky again and, in the distance, the definite sounds of cheering and shouting.**

**"Was that another goal?" asked Hagrid, pausing in the shelter of the trees as the Quidditch stadium came into view. "Or d'yeh reckon the match is over?"**

**"I don't know," said Hermione miserably. Cris saw that she looked much the worse for wear; her hair was full of twigs and leaves, her robes were ripped in several places and there were numerous scratches on her face and arms. She knew she must look little better.**

"I bet we looked about the same." Cris said.

"Probably." Hermione said.

**"I reckon it's over, yeh know!" said Hagrid, still squinting towards the stadium. "Look - there's people comin' out already - if yeh two hurry yeh'll be able ter blend in with the crowd an' no one'll know yeh weren't there!"**

"That's probably true," Ron said.

"I hope someone will tell us." Cris said.

**"Good idea," said Cris. "Well… see you later, then, Hagrid."**

**"I don't believe him," said Hermione in a very unsteady voice, the moment they were out of earshot of Hagrid. "I don't believe him. I really don't believe him."**

**"Calm down!" she said feverishly. "A giant! A giant in the Forest! And we're supposed to give him English lessons! Always assuming, of course, we can get past the herd of murderous centaurs on the way in and out! I - don't -believe - him!"**

**"We haven't got to do anything yet!" Cris tried to reassure her in a quiet voice, as they joined a stream of jabbering Hufflepuffs heading back towards the castle. "He's not asking us to do anything unless he gets chucked out and that might not even happen."**

"He's probably going to get chucked out anyway just because he's a half-giant." Kingsley said.

**"Oh, come off it, Cris!" said Hermione angrily, stopping dead in her tracks so that the people behind had to swerve to avoid her. "Of course he's going to be chucked out and, to be perfectly honest, after what we've just seen, who can blame Umbridge?"**

"Hermione!" cried the room.

"I haven't done anything yet." Hermione said.

"True," Cris and Ron said.

**There was a pause in which Cris glared at her, and her eyes filled slowly with tears.**

**"You didn't mean that," said Cris quietly.**

**"No… well… all right… I didn't," she said, wiping her eyes angrily. "But why does he have to make life so difficult for himself - for us?'**

**"I dunno -"**

**"Weasley is our King, Weasley is our King, He didn't let the Quaffle in, Weasley is our King…"**

**"And I wish they'd stop singing that stupid song," said Hermione miserably, "haven't they gloated enough?"**

"Wait, wait, wait. The songs different." Ron said.

"It is," Bill said.

**A great tide of students was moving up the sloping lawns from the pitch.**

**"Oh, let's get in before we have to meet the Slytherins," said Hermione.**

**"Weasley can save anything, He never leaves a single ring, That's why Gryffindors all sing, Weasley is our King."**

**"Hermione…" said Cris slowly.**

"Does this mean Gryffindor won?" Sirius asked.

"Probably." Remus said.

**The song was growing louder, but it was issuing not from a crowd of green-and-silver-clad Slytherins, but from a mass of red and gold moving slowly towards the castle, bearing a solitary figure upon its many shoulders.**

**"Weasley is our King, Weasley is our King, He didn't let the Quaffle in, Weasley is our King…"**

**"No?" said Hermione in a hushed voice.**

**"YES!" said Cris loudly.**

**"CRIS! HERMIONE!" yelled Ron, waving the silver Quidditch cup in the air and looking quite beside himself. "WE DID IT! WE WON!"**

"YES!" cried the room.

"You did it." Hermione said kissing his cheek.

"I knew you could do it Ron." Bill said.

**They beamed up at him as he passed. There was a scrum at the door of the castle and Ron's head got rather badly bumped on the lintel, but nobody seemed to want to put him down. Still singing, the crowd squeezed itself into the Entrance Hall and out of sight. Cris and Hermione watched them go, beaming, until the last echoing strains of 'Weasley is our King' died away. Then they turned to each other, their smiles fading.**

**"We'll save our news till tomorrow, shall we?" said Cris.**

**"Yes, all right," said Hermione wearily. "I'm not in any hurry."**

"Thank god for that." Ron said.

"You're welcome." The two girls said.

**They climbed the steps together. At the front doors both instinctively looked back at the Forbidden Forest. Cris was not sure whether or not it was her imagination, but she rather thought she saw a small cloud of birds erupting into the air over the tree tops in the distance, almost as though the tree in which they had been nesting had just been pulled up by the roots.**

"It probably was." Bill said.

"That's the chapter." Charlie said. He handed it to Fleur to read the next chapter.


	34. Chapter 31: OWLs

"**Chapter 31: O.W.L.s." **Fleur read.

"It's that time of the year already?" Sirius asked.

"It seems like it." Remus said.

"That's fast," Prongs said.

"These books are fast." Lily said.

"True,"

**Ron's euphoria at helping Gryffindor scrape the Quidditch cup was such that he couldn't settle to anything next day. All he wanted to do was talk over the match, so Cris and Hermione found it very difficult to find an opening in which to mention Grawp. Not that either of them tried very hard; neither was keen to be the one to bring Ron back to reality in quite such a brutal fashion.**

"Thanks for that," Ron said.

"No problem, Red." Hermione and Cris said.

**As it was another fine, warm day, they persuaded him to join them in revising under the beech tree at the edge of the lake, where they had less chance of being overheard than in the common room. Ron was not particularly keen on this idea at first - he was thoroughly enjoying being patted on the back by every Gryffindor who walked past his chair, not to mention the occasional outbursts of 'Weasley is our King' - but after a while he agreed that some fresh air might do him good.**

**They spread their books out in the shade of the beech tree and sat down while Ron talked them through his first save of the match for what felt like the dozenth time.**

"I wonder if it was." Hermione said.

"It probably was, knowing Ron." Ginny said.

"Hey, what is this, pick on Ron day?" Ron asked.

"Yes," his siblings, Cris and Hermione said. Ron pouted as Fleur continued reading.

**"****Well, I mean, I'd already let in that one of Davies's, so I wasn't feeling all that confident, but I dunno, when Bradley came towards me, just out of nowhere, I thought - you can do this! And I had about a second to decide which way to fly, you know, because he looked like he was aiming for the right goal-hoop - my right, obviously, his left - but I had a funny feeling that he was feinting, and so I took the chance and flew left - his right, I mean - and - well - you saw what happened," he concluded modestly, sweeping his hair back quite unnecessarily so that it looked interestingly windswept and glancing around to see whether the people nearest to them — a bunch of gossiping third-year Hufflepuffs — had heard him. **

**"****And then, when Chambers came at me about five minutes later - What?" Ron asked, having stopped mid-sentence at the look on Cris' face. "Why are you grinning?"**

**"****I'm not," said Cris quickly, and looked down at her Transfiguration notes, attempting to straighten her face. The truth was that Ron had just reminded Cris forcibly of another Gryffindor Quidditch player who had once sat rumpling his hair under this very tree. **

"I remind you of your dad?" Ron asked.

"I've noticed many similarities from your group to ours. Cris is a lot like Prongs, Ron is me and Hermione is Moony." Sirius said.

"Except they don't cause the same trouble we did." Remus said.

**"I'm just glad we won, that's all."**

**"****Yeah," said Ron slowly, savoring the words, "we won. Did you see the look on Chang's face when Ginny got the Snitch right out from under her nose?"**

**"****I suppose she cried, did she?" said Cris.**

**"****Well, yeah - more out of temper than anything, though…" Ron frowned slightly. "But you saw her chuck her broom away when she got back to the ground, didn't you?"**

**"****Er -" said Cris.**

**"****Well, actually… no, Ron," said Hermione with a heavy sigh, putting down her book and looking at him apologetically. "As a matter of fact, the only bit of the match Cris and I saw was Davies's first goal."**

"Finally you tell me." Ron said.

"I wondered when you'd tell him." Lily said.

**Ron's carefully ruffled hair seemed to wilt with disappointment. "You didn't watch?" he said faintly, looking from one to the other. "You didn't see me make any of those saves?"**

"I wish I could've though, you know I would have been if it was anyone else you know I would have stayed." Cris said.

"I know mate," Ron said.

**"****Well - no," said Hermione, stretching out a placatory hand towards him. "But Ron, we didn't want to leave — we had to!"**

**"****Yeah?" said Ron, whose face was growing rather red. "How come?"**

**"****It was Hagrid," said Cris. "He decided to tell us why he's been covered in injuries ever since he got back from the giants. He wanted us to go into the Forest with him, we had no choice, you know how he gets. Anyway…"**

**The story was told in five minutes, by the end of which Ron's indignation had been replaced by a look of total incredulity.**

"And here I thought Hagrid couldn't get any worse." Bill said.

"First a Dragon, then a three headed dog, Acromantulas, blast-ended skrewts and now giants." Remus said.

"I know, it's crazy." Sirius said.

**"****He brought one back and hid it in the Forest?"**

**"****Yep," said Cris grimly.**

**"****No," said Ron, as though by saying this he could make it untrue. "No, he can't have."**

**"****Well, he has," said Hermione firmly. "Grawp's about sixteen feet tall, enjoys ripping up twenty-foot pine trees, and knows me," she snorted, "as Hermy."**

"Well that about sums it up." Cris said.

"Rather quickly too." Charlie said.

**Ron gave a nervous laugh.**

**"****And Hagrid wants us to…?"**

**"****Teach him English, yeah," said Cris.**

**"****He's lost his mind," said Ron in an almost awed voice.**

"That he has." Mr. Weasley said.

"I think we've established that in first year." Sirius said.

"I know, now it's just official." Mr. Weasley said.

**"****Yes," said Hermione irritably, turning a page of Intermediate Transfiguration and glaring at a series of diagrams showing an owl turning into a pair of opera glasses. "Yes, I'm starting to think he has. But, unfortunately, he made Cris and me promise."**

**"****Well, you're just going to have to break your promise, that's all," said Ron firmly. "I mean, come on… we've got exams and we're about that far -" he held up his hand to show thumb and forefinger almost touching "- from being chucked out as it is. And anyway… remember Norbert? Remember Aragog? Have we ever come off better for mixing with any of Hagrid's monster mates?" **

"Not really." Hermione said.

"Well there's always the first time." Sirius said.

"I highly doubt it." Cris said.

"Me too," Sirius said.

**"****I know, it's just that - we promised," said Hermione in a small voice.**

**Ron smoothed his hair flat again, looking preoccupied.**

**"****Well," he sighed, "Hagrid hasn't been sacked yet, has he? He's hung on this long, maybe he'll hang on till the end of term and we won't have to go near Grawp at all."**

**The castle grounds were gleaming in the sunlight as though freshly painted; the cloudless sky smiled at itself in the smoothly sparkling lake; the satin green lawns rippled occasionally in a gentle breeze. June had arrived, but to the fifth-years this meant only one thing: their OWLs were upon them at last.**

"And Keiran was born at the beginning of the month." Victoire said.

"Yeah, mum doesn't find out until after the year is over." Lily J said.

"It's okay, I understand that you tried to tell me at Christmas." Cris said.

"Good," Sirius said.

**Their teachers were no longer setting them homework; lessons were devoted to revising those topics the teachers thought most likely to come up in the exams. The purposeful, feverish atmosphere drove nearly everything but the OWLs from Cris' mind, though she did wonder occasionally during Potions lessons whether Remus had ever told Snape that he must continue giving Cris Occlumency tuition. If he had, then Snape had ignored Remus as thoroughly as he was now ignoring Cris. This suited Cris very well; she was quite busy and tense enough without extra classes with Snape, and to her relief Hermione was much too preoccupied these days to badger her about Occlumency; she was spending a lot of time muttering to herself, and had not laid out any elf clothes for days.**

**She was not the only person acting oddly as the OWLs drew steadily nearer. Ernie Macmillan had developed an irritating habit of interrogating people about their study habits. **

"I remember someone doing that." Keiran said looking at Teddy.

"I was stressed, what do you expect?" Teddy asked. Keiran rolled his eyes as Teddy glared at him.

"Play nice," Lily J said.

"Yes Lils." Keiran and Teddy said.

"Wow, that sure brings back some memories." Remus said.

"It sure does." Robin said with a laugh.

**"****How many hours d'you think you're doing a day?" he demanded of Cris and Ron as they queued outside Herbology, a manic gleam in his eyes.**

**"****I dunno," said Ron. "A few."**

**"****More or less than eight?"**

**"****Less, I s'pose," said Ron, looking slightly alarmed.**

**"****I'm doing eight," said Ernie, puffing out his chest. "Eight or nine. I'm getting an hour in before breakfast every day. Eights my average. I can do ten on a good weekend day. I did nine and a half on Monday. Not so good on Tuesday - only seven and a quarter. Then on Wednesday -"**

"Ernie, that can't be good for you." Cris said.

"Remus, Kit and Lily did that, they became very agitated at the end of everything." Sirius said.

**Cris was deeply thankful that Professor Sprout ushered them into greenhouse three at that point, forcing Ernie to abandon his recital.**

**Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy had found a different way to induce panic. **

"Great, what did I do?" Draco asked.

"Something stupid probably." Cris said.

"Yeah," Draco said.

**"Of course, it's not what you know," he was heard to tell Crabbe and Goyle loudly outside Potions a few days before the exams were to start, "it's who you know. Now, Father's been friendly with the head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority for years — old Griselda Marchbanks - we've had her round for dinner and everything…"**

"No we haven't, why am I saying something that stupid?" Draco asked.

"I have no idea." Luna said.

**"****Do you think that's true?" Hermione whispered in alarm to Cris and Ron.**

**"****Nothing we can do about it if it is," said Ron gloomily.**

**"****I don't think it's true," said Neville quietly from behind them. "Because Griselda Marchbanks is a friend of my gran's, and she's never mentioned the Malfoy's."**

**"****What's she like, Neville?" asked Hermione at once. "Is she strict?"**

**"****Bit like Gran, really," said Neville in a subdued voice.**

"So yes, she can be strict." Frank said.

"Yeah," Neville said.

**"****Knowing her won't hurt your chances, though, will it?" Ron told him encouragingly.**

**"****Oh, I don't think it will make any difference," said Neville, still more miserably. "Grans always telling Professor Marchbanks I'm not as good as my dad…**

"Now that can't be good." Tonks said.

"I really need to talk to mum." Frank said.

**well… you saw what she's like at St Mungo's." Neville looked fixedly at the floor. Cris, Ron and Hermione glanced at each other, but didn't know what to say. It was the first time Neville had acknowledged that they had met at the wizarding hospital.**

**Meanwhile, a flourishing black-market trade in aids to concentration, mental agility and wakefulness had sprung up among the fifth- and seventh-years. Ron was much tempted by the bottle of Baruffio's Brain Elixir offered to his by Ravenclaw sixth-year Eddie Carmichael, who swore it was solely responsible for the nine 'Outstanding' OWLs he had gained the previous summer and was offering a whole pint for a mere twelve Galleons. Ron assured Cris he would reimburse her for his half the moment he left Hogwarts and got a job, but before they could close the deal, Hermione had confiscated the bottle from Carmichael and poured the contents down a toilet.**

**"****Hermione, I wanted to buy that!" shouted Ron.**

"It's probably a scam," Hermione said.

"I'm sure that's what I was trying to tell Ron." Cris said.

"Probably." Ron said.

**"****Don't be stupid," she snarled. "You might as well take Harold Dingle's powdered dragon claw and have done with it."**

**"****Dingle's got powdered dragon claw?" said Ron eagerly.**

**"****Not anymore," said Hermione. "I confiscated that, too. None of these things actually work, you know." **

"Dragon claw is supposed to though." Bill said.

**"****Dragon claw does work!" said Ron. "It's supposed to be incredible, really gives your brain a boost, you come over all cunning for a few hours - Hermione, let me have a pinch, go on, it can't hurt -"**

**"****This stuff can," said Hermione grimly. "I've had a look at it, and it's actually dried Doxy droppings."**

"Do they always sell the fake stuff?" Gwen asked.

"Probably." The group said.

**This information took the edge off Ron's desire for brain stimulants.**

**They received their examination timetables and details of the procedure for OWLs during their next Transfiguration lesson.**

**"****As you can see," Professor McGonagall told the class as they copied down the dates and times of their exams from the blackboard, "your OWLs are spread over two successive weeks. You will sit the theory exams in the mornings and the practice in the afternoons. Your practical Astronomy examination will, of course, take place at night.**

**"****Now, I must warn you that the most stringent anti-cheating charms have been applied to your examination papers. Auto-Answer Quills are banned from the examination hall, as are Remembralls, Detachable Cribbing Cuffs and Self-Correcting Ink. Every year, I am afraid to say, seems to harbor at least one student who thinks that he or she can get around the Wizarding Examinations Authority's rules. I can only hope that it is nobody in Gryffindor.**

"But Remembralls are useless, they just tell you you've forgotten something just not what you've forgotten." Alice said.

"Those are the rules, I don't make them up." McGonagall said.

"Do people really cheat?" Gwen asked.

"There's one every year." Dumbledore said.

**Our new - Headmistress —" Professor McGonagall pronounced the word with the same look on her face that Aunt Petunia had whenever she was contemplating a particularly stubborn bit of dirt "- has asked the Heads of House to tell their students that cheating will be punished most severely - because, of course, your examination results will reflect upon the Headmistress's new regime at the school -"**

"So do badly?" Padfoot asked.

"I wouldn't say that." McGonagall said.

"They are important," Mrs. Weasley said.

**Professor McGonagall gave a tiny sigh; Cris saw the nostrils of her sharp nose flare.**

"You know, I've always wondered if Minnie has dragon ancestry." Padfoot whispered.

"It wouldn't surprise me." Prongs whispered back.

**"****- however, that is no reason not to do your very best. You have your own futures to think about."**

**"****Please, Professor," said Hermione, her hand in the air, "when will we find out our results?"**

**"****An owl will be sent to you sometime in July," said Professor McGonagall.**

"So they make you what practically all summer to get your grades?" Gwen asked.

"Yep," Lily said.

"That's torture!" Gwen said.

"It is," Remus said.

**"****Excellent," said Dean Thomas in an audible whisper, "so we don't have to worry about it till the holidays."**

**Cris imagined sitting in her bedroom in Privet Drive in six weeks' time, waiting for her OWL results. Well, she thought dully, at least she would be sure of one bit of post next summer.**

**Their first examination, Theory of Charms, was scheduled for Monday morning. Cris agreed to test Hermione after lunch on Sunday, **

"It's probably not the best thing but it'll help." Bill said.

**but regretted it almost at once; she was very agitated and kept snatching the book back from her to check that she had got the answer completely right, finally hitting her hard on the nose with the sharp edge of Achievements in Charming.**

**"****Why don't you just do it yourself?" she said firmly, handing the book back to her, her eyes watering.**

"Sorry, I'm sure I didn't mean to hit you." Hermione said.

"I know you wouldn't actually do it." Cris said.

**Meanwhile, Ron was reading two years' worth of Charms notes with his fingers in his ears, his lips moving soundlessly; Seamus Finnigan was lying flat on his back on the floor, reciting the definition of a Substantive Charm while Dean checked it against The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5; and Parvati and Lavender, who were practicing basic Locomotion Charms, were making their pencil-cases race each other around the edge of the table.**

**Dinner was a subdued affair that night. Cris and Ron did not talk much, but ate with gusto, having studied hard all day. Hermione, on the other hand, kept putting down her knife and fork and diving under the table for her bag, from which she would seize a book to check some fact or figure. Ron was just telling her that she ought to eat a decent meal or she would not sleep that night, when her fork slid from her limp fingers and landed with a loud tinkle on her plate. **

"What do you want to bet that the examiners have arrived?" James asked.

"I'm not taking that bet, dear brother of mine." Lily J said.

"You're no fun." James said.

**"****Oh, my goodness," she said faintly, staring into the Entrance Hall. "Is that them? Is that the examiners?"**

**Cris and Ron whipped around on their bench. Through the doors to the Great Hall they could see Umbridge standing with a small group of ancient-looking witches and wizards. Umbridge, Cris was pleased to see, looked rather nervous.**

"Good, she should be nervous." Lily said with a glare to the toad in the room.

"Maybe we should have stayed to make her more nervous." Fred said.

"That would've been fun." George said.

"But your escape was fun." Charlie said.

**"****Shall we go and have a closer look?" said Ron.**

**Cris and Hermione nodded and they hastened towards the double doors into the Entrance Hall, slowing down as they stepped over the threshold to walk sedately past the examiners. Cris thought Professor Marchbanks must be the tiny, stooped witch with a face so lined it looked as though it had been draped in cobwebs; Umbridge was speaking to her deferentially. Professor Marchbanks seemed to be a little deaf; she was answering Professor Umbridge very loudly considering they were only a foot apart.**

**"****Journey was fine, journey was fine, we've made it plenty of times before!" she said impatiently. "Now, I haven't heard from Dumbledore lately!" she added, peering around the Hall as though hopeful he might suddenly emerge from a broom cupboard. **

"That would be hilarious!" the twins shouted.

"Somehow, I can see him doing that." Cris said.

"Me too," said the rest of the group. Dumbledore merely just chuckled.

**"No idea where he is, I suppose?"**

**"****None at all," said Umbridge, shooting a malevolent look at Cris, Ron and Hermione, who were now dawdling around the foot of the stairs as Ron pretended to do up his shoelace. "But I daresay the Ministry of Magic will track him down soon enough."**

**"****I doubt it," shouted tiny Professor Marchbanks, "not if Dumbledore doesn't want to be found! I should know… examined him personally in Transfiguration and Charms when he did NEWTs… did things with a wand I'd never seen before." **

"I didn't think she was that old." Bill said.

"Did she really, sir?" Padfoot asked.

"She did indeed Mr. Black." Dumbledore said.

**"****Yes… well…" said Professor Umbridge as Cris, Ron and Hermione dragged their feet up the marble staircase as slowly as they dared, "let me show you to the staff room. I daresay you'd like a cup of tea after your journey."**

**It was an uncomfortable sort of an evening. Everyone was trying to do some last-minute revising but nobody seemed to be getting very far. Cris went to bed early but then lay awake for what felt like hours. She remembered her careers consultation and McGonagall's furious declaration that she would help her become an Auror if it was the last thing she did. She wished she had expressed a more achievable ambition now that exam time was here. She knew **she** was not the only one lying awake, but none of the others in the dormitory spoke and finally, one by one, they fell asleep.**

**None of the fifth-years talked very much at breakfast next day, either: Parvati was practicing incantations under her breath while the salt cellar in front of her twitched; Hermione was rereading Achievements in Charming so fast that her eyes appeared blurred; and Neville kept dropping his knife and fork and knocking over the marmalade.**

"Knowing me, I probably didn't get much sleep." Neville said.

"Probably, you never sleep when we have big tests like that." Cris said.

"That's true,"

**Once breakfast was over, the fifth- and seventh-years milled around in the Entrance Hall while the other students went off to lessons; then, at half past nine, they were called forwards class by class to re-enter the Great Hall, which had been rearranged exactly as Cris had seen it in the Pensieve when her father, Sirius and Snape had been taking their OWLs; the four house tables had been removed and replaced instead with many tables for one, all facing the staff-table end of the Hall where Professor McGonagall stood facing them. When they were all seated and quiet, she said, "You may begin," and turned over an enormous hour-glass on the desk beside her, on which there were also spare quills, ink bottles and rolls of parchment.**

**Cris turned over her paper, her heart thumping hard - three rows to her right and four seats ahead Hermione was already scribbling - and lowered her eyes to the first question: a) Give the incantation and b) describe the wand movement required to make objects fly.**

"That's easy." Cris said.

"You do know that, don't you Ron?" Hermione asked.

"Of course I do, I seem to remember saving Cris' arse with that spell." Ron said. The group chuckled as they remembered that scene from the first book.

**Cris had a fleeting memory of a club soaring high into the air and landing loudly on the thick skull of a troll… smiling slightly, she bent over the paper and began to write.**

**"****Well, it wasn't too bad, was it?" asked Hermione anxiously in the Entrance Hall two hours later,**

"Ah, it doesn't give us the whole test?" Ron asked.

"Nope, that would be a long chapter." Charlie said.

"That is would be." Cris said.

**still clutching the exam paper. "I'm not sure I did myself justice on Cheering Charms, I just ran out of time. Did you put in the counter-charm for hiccoughs? I wasn't, sure whether I ought to, it felt like too much **

"There is no such thing as too much on an exam." Percy said.

"There is for teachers," Snape said.

"We have hundreds of papers and tests to grade, it's best especially on a test like this to give what the question asks for." McGonagall said.

"Got it," the current fifth year students said.

**- and on question twenty-three -"**

**"****Hermione," said Ron sternly, "we've been through this before… we're not going through every exam afterwards, it's bad enough doing them once."**

"It is, it's bad on my nerves." Cris said.

"That's your mother's side." Prongs said. Cris smiled and Lily smacked him so Fleur continued reading.

**The fifth-years ate lunch with the rest of the school (the four house tables had reappeared for the lunch hour), then they trooped off into the small chamber beside the Great Hall, where they were to wait until called for their practical examination. As small groups of students were called forwards in alphabetical order, those left behind muttered incantations and practiced wand movements, occasionally poking each other in the back or eye by mistake.**

**Hermione's name was called. Trembling, she left the chamber with Anthony Goldstein, Gregory Goyle and Daphne Greengrass. **

"Ouch, two Slytherins and a Ravenclaw." Cris said.

"Anthony and Daphne aren't too bad though." Hermione said.

"It's Greg you have to worry about." Draco said.

**Students who had already been tested did not return afterwards, so Cris and Ron had no idea how Hermione had done.**

"Which is probably helpful." Cris said.

"Probably," Ron said.

**"****She'll be fine, remember she got a hundred and twelve percent on one of our Charms tests?" said Ron.**

**Ten minutes later, Professor Flitwick called, "Parkinson, Pansy - Patil, Padma - Patil, Parvati - Potter, Cristal."**

**"****Good luck," said Ron quietly. Cris walked into the Great Hall, clutching her wand so tightly her hand shook.**

**"****Professor Tofty is free, Potter," squeaked Professor Flitwick, who was standing just inside the door. He pointed Cris towards what looked like the very oldest and baldest examiner who was sitting behind a small table in a far corner, a short distance from Professor Marchbanks, who was halfway through testing Draco Malfoy. **

"What am I still doing there?" Draco asked.

"I have no idea," Cris said.

**"****Potter, is it?" said Professor Tofty, consulting his notes and peering over his pince-nez at Cris as she approached. "The famous Potter?"**

**Out of the corner of her eye, Cris distinctly saw Malfoy throw a scathing look over at her; the wine-glass Malfoy had been levitating fell to the floor and smashed. **

"You shouldn't let something distract you." Moody said. Draco nodded as he mentally took note on it.

**Cris could not suppress a grin; Professor Tofty smiled back at her encouragingly.**

**"****That's it," he said in his quavery old voice, "no need to be nervous. Now, if I could ask you to take this egg cup and make it do some cartwheels for me."**

**On the whole, Cris thought it went rather well. Her Levitation Charm was certainly much better than Malfoy's had been, though she wished she had not mixed up the incantations for Color Change and Growth Charms, so that the rat she was supposed to be turning orange swelled shockingly and was the size of a badger before Cris could rectify her mistake.**

"At least you were able to fix the mistake, they might take off some points but that's not too bad." Remus said.

"Thanks," Cris said.

**She was glad Hermione had not been in the Hall at the time and neglected to mention it to her afterwards. **

Hermione pouted while Cris laughed and smiled at her best friend.

**She could tell Ron, though; Ron had caused a dinner plate to mutate into a large mushroom and had no idea how it had happened.**

"How in the world did you do that?" Remus asked his eyes dancing in amusement.

"I have no clue how that could happen." Ron said.

**There was no time to relax that night; they went straight to the common room after dinner and submerged themselves in revision for Transfiguration next day; Cris went to bed with her head buzzing with complex spell models and theories.**

**She forgot the definition of a Switching Spell during her written paper next morning but just as time was out remembered it and quickly wrote it down. She thought her practical could have been a lot worse. At least she managed to Vanish the whole of her iguana, whereas poor Daphne Greengrass**

"Why is she testing with you?" Gwen asked.

"For some reason for this one it goes by first name rather than last name." Dumbledore said.

"That's weird." Gwen said.

**lost her head completely at the next table and somehow managed to multiply her ferret into a flock of flamingos, causing the examination to be halted for ten minutes while the birds were captured and carried out of the Hall.**

"Wow, she's usually really good." Draco said.

"The exams are stressful." Keiran said.

"True," Draco said.

**They had their Herbology exam on Wednesday (other than a small bite from a Fanged Geranium, Cris felt she had done reasonably well); and then, on Thursday, Defense Against the Dark Arts.**

"You're going to ace that one." Remus said.

"I hope so, I'm rather good at it." Cris said.

"If you don't get an outstanding I'll be shocked." Sirius said.

**Here, for the first time, Cris felt sure she had passed. She had no problem with any of the written questions and took particular pleasure, during the practical examination, in performing all the counter-jinxes and defensive spells right in front of Umbridge, who was watching coolly from near the doors into the Entrance Hall.**

**"Oh, bravo!" cried Professor Tofty, who was examining Cris again, when Cris demonstrated a perfect Boggart banishing spell. "Very good indeed! Well, I think that's all, Potter… unless…" He leaned forwards a little. "I heard, from my dear friend Tiberius Ogden, that you can produce a Patronus? For a bonus point…?"**

"That isn't fair!" Hermione said.

"Well, I can't control what the examiners want." Cris said.

"I hope they do that for everyone." Hermione said.

"It's not normal fifth year material, it's done in seventh year so I don't think they will." Bill said. Hermione mock pouted and Cris just grinned sheepishly.

**Cris raised her wand, looked directly at Umbridge and imagined her being sacked.**

"It's not technically a memory but it is a happy thought so it should work." Remus said.

**"Expecto patronum!"**

**Her silver stag erupted from the end of her wand and cantered the length of the Hall. All of the examiners looked around to watch its progress and when it dissolved into silver mist Professor Tofty clapped his veined and knotted hands enthusiastically.**

**"Excellent!" he said. "Very well, Potter, you may go!"**

**As Cris passed Umbridge beside the door, their eyes met. There was a nasty smile playing around her wide, slack mouth, but she did not care. Unless she was very much mistaken (and she was not planning on telling anybody, in case she was), she had just achieved an 'Outstanding' OWL.**

"I hope I get it." Cris said.

"If you don't they'll be crazy." Remus said.

**On Friday, Cris and Ron had a day off while Hermione sat her Ancient Runes exam, and as they had the whole weekend in front of them they permitted themselves a break from revision. **

"Good, it's always good to give your mind a break." Mr. Weasley said.

**They stretched and yawned beside the open window, through which warm summer air was wafting as they played wizard chess. Cris could see Hagrid in the distance, teaching a class on the edge of the Forest. She was trying to guess what creatures they were examining - she thought it must be unicorns, because the boys seemed to be standing back a little - when the portrait hole opened and Hermione clambered in, looking thoroughly bad-tempered.**

"I don't like where this is going." Hermione said.

"We better steer clear." Cris said to Ron who nodded his head.

**"How were the Runes?" said Ron, yawning and stretching.**

**"I mistranslated ehwaz," said Hermione furiously. "It means partnership, not Defense; I mixed it up with eihwaz."**

"That's not a horrible mistake to make, it's actually quite easy." Bill said. "I made the same mistake."

"I'll just have to remember it." Hermione said.

"You will," Cris and Ron said.

**"Ah well," said Ron lazily, "that's only one mistake, isn't it, you'll still get -"**

**"Oh, shut up!" said Hermione angrily. "It could be the one mistake that makes the difference between a pass and a fail. And what's more, someone's put another Niffler in Umbridge's office. I don't know how they got it through that new door, but I just walked past there and Umbridge is shrieking her head off - by the sound of it, it tried to take a chunk out of her leg -"**

**"Good," said Cris and Ron together.**

**"It is not good!" said Hermione hotly. "She thinks it's Hagrid doing it, remember? And we do not want Hagrid chucked out!"**

**"He's teaching at the moment; she can't blame him," said Cris, gesturing out of the window.**

"She won't wait for proof." Sirius said.

"Sadly," Remus said.

**"Oh, you're so naive sometimes, really think Umbridge will wait for proof?" said Hermione, who seemed determined to be in a towering temper, and she swept off towards the girls' dormitories, banging the door behind her.**

**"Such a lovely, sweet-tempered girl," said Ron, very quietly, prodding his queen forward to beat up one of Cris knights. Cris leaned over and whacked Ron on the back of his head with a pillow. **

"Thank you Bolt," Hermione said.

"It may not have happened yet but you're welcome." Cris said.

**Hermione's bad mood persisted for most of the weekend, though Cris and Ron found it quite easy to ignore as they spent most of Saturday and Sunday revising for Potions on Monday, the exam which Cris had been looking forward to least - and which she was sure would be the downfall of her ambitions to become an Auror. Sure enough, she found the written paper difficult, though she thought she might have got full marks on the question about Polyjuice Potion; she could describe its effects accurately, having taken it illegally in her second year.**

"You know, that is one thing we never did." Prongs said.

"We give you Marauder points for that one." Padfoot said. Cris smiled at them as Fleur continued to read.

**The afternoon practical was not as dreadful as she had expected it to be. With Snape absent from the proceedings, she found that she was much more relaxed than she usually was while making potions. Neville, who was sitting very near Cris, also looked happier than Cris had ever seen him during a Potions class. When Professor Marchbanks said, "Step away from your cauldrons, please, the examination is over," Cris corked her sample flask feeling that she might not have achieved a good grade but she had, with luck, avoided a fail.**

**"Only four exams left," said Parvati Patil wearily as they headed back to Gryffindor common room.**

**"Only!" said Hermione snappishly. "I've got Arithmancy and it's probably the toughest subject there is!"**

"So why did you take it?" Bill asked.

"It sounded interesting." Hermione said.

**Nobody was foolish enough to snap back, so she was unable to vent her spleen on any of them and was reduced to telling off some first-years for giggling too loudly in the common room.**

"Mione, you need something to vent out those emotions." Cris said.

"What do you suggest?" Hermione asked.

"Well, flying and gymnastics works for me." Cris said.

"Seriously, you should see her on the uneven bars." Gwen said.

"Knitting always seemed to help calm me down and relax me." Hermione said.

"Then start that whenever you're stressed." Cris said.

"I think I will, thanks Bolt." Hermione said.

"That's what I'm here for."

**Cris was determined to perform well in Tuesdays Care of Magical Creatures exam so as not to let Hagrid down. The practical examination took place in the afternoon on the lawn on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where students were required to correctly identify the Knarl hidden among a dozen hedgehogs (the trick was to offer them all milk in turn: Knarls, highly suspicious creatures whose quills had many magical properties, generally went berserk at what they saw as an attempt to poison them); then demonstrate correct handling of a Bowtruckle; feed and clean out a Fire Crab without sustaining serious burns; and choose, from a wide selection of food, the diet they would give a sick unicorn.**

"Sounds quite easy." Said the fourth years and the fifth years in the room. They all took note of that.

**Cris could see Hagrid watching anxiously out of his cabin window. When Cris' examiner, a plump little witch this time, smiled at her and told her she could leave, Cris gave Hagrid a fleeting thumbs-up before heading back to the castle.**

**The Astronomy theory paper on Wednesday morning went well enough. Cris was not convinced she had got the names of all Jupiter's moons right,**

"Europa, Ganymede, Io, Callisto." Cris said. "There's a lot more but I don't remember them all."

"I think those are the only ones we are taught." Hermione said.

**but was at least confident that none of them was inhabited by mice. **

**They had to wait until evening for their practical Astronomy; the afternoon was devoted instead to Divination.**

"I wonder how bad I do on that one." Cris said.

"I don't think it'll be that bad." Lily said.

"I hope not." Cris said.

**Even by Cris' low standards in Divination, the exam went very badly. She might as well have tried to see moving pictures on the desktop as in the stubbornly blank crystal ball; she lost her head completely during tea-leaf reading, saying it looked to her as though Professor Marchbanks would shortly be meeting a round, dark, soggy stranger, and rounded off the whole fiasco by mixing up the life and head-lines on her palm and informing her that she ought to have died the previous Tuesday. **

"She'll know you're pretending." Tonks said with a laugh.

"I'll keep that in mind." Cris said with a laugh.

**"Well, we were always going to fail that one," said Ron gloomily as they ascended the marble staircase. He had just made Cris feel rather better by telling him how he had told the examiner in detail about the ugly man with a wart on his nose in his crystal ball, only to look up and realize he had been describing his examiner's reflection.**

Ron blushed very brightly at that as the group laughed at that.

"You probably failed that one then." Sirius said.

"Probably." Ron said.

**"We shouldn't have taken the stupid subject in the first place," said Cris.**

**"Still, at least we can give it up now."**

**"Yeah," said Cris. "No more pretending we care what happens when Jupiter and Uranus get too friendly."**

"You never did in the first place." Gwen said.

"That's why it said pretending to care." Cris said.

"Right,"

**"And from now on, I don't care if my tea-leaves spell die, Ron, die - I'm just chucking them in the bin where they belong."**

"Though if they do spell that I'd be worried." Ron said. Cris shared a look with Fred and George who were smirking the same she probably had on her face. Ron didn't notice but the Marauders did.

**Cris laughed just as Hermione came running up behind them. She stopped laughing at once, in case it annoyed her.**

**"Well, I think I've done all right in Arithmancy" she said, and Cris and Ron both sighed with relief. "Just time for a quick look over our star-charts before dinner, then…" **

**When they reached the top of the Astronomy Tower at eleven o'clock, they found a perfect night for stargazing, cloudless and still. The grounds were bathed in silvery moonlight and there was a slight chill in the air. Each of them set up his or her telescope and, when Professor Marchbanks gave the word, proceeded to fill in the blank star-chart they had been given.**

"Really not looking forward to that one." Ron said.

"I think we should take an hour or two nap before the test then go over the star charts then do the exam." Cris said.

"That is exactly what I did." Padfoot and Prongs said.

**Professors Marchbanks and Tofty strolled among them, watching as they entered the precise positions of the stars and planets they were observing. All was quiet except for the rustle of parchment, the occasional creak of a telescope as it was adjusted on its stand, and the scribbling of many quills. Half an hour passed, then an hour; the little squares of reflected gold light flickering on the ground below started to vanish as lights in the castle windows were extinguished.**

**As Cris completed the constellation Orion on her chart, however, the front doors of the castle opened directly below the parapet where she was standing, so that light spilled down the stone steps a little way across the lawn. Cris glanced down as she made a slight adjustment to the position of her telescope and saw five or six elongated shadows moving over the brightly lit grass before the doors swung shut and the lawn became a sea of darkness once more.**

"Who's coming out of the castle at that time?" Moony asked.

"I have no idea." Padfoot said.

**Cris put her eye back to her telescope and refocused it, now examining Venus. She looked down at her chart to enter the planet there, but something distracted her; pausing with her quill suspended over the parchment, she squinted down into the shadowy grounds and saw half a dozen figures walking over the lawn. If they had not been moving, and the moonlight had not been gilding the tops of their heads, they would have been indistinguishable from the dark ground on which they walked. Even at this distance, Cris had a funny feeling she recognized the walk of the squattest of them, who seemed to be leading the group.**

"She's not doing what I think she's doing is she?" Charlie asked with a gasp.

"What do you think she's doing?" Gwen asked. Cris and the rest of the present time students got it.

"She's sacking Hagrid." Cris said.

**She could not think why Umbridge would be taking a stroll outside after midnight, much less accompanied by five others. Then somebody coughed behind her, and she remembered that she was halfway through an exam. Sh had quite forgotten Venus's position. Jamming her eye to her telescope, she found it again and was once more about to enter it on her chart when, alert for any odd sound, she heard a distant knock which echoed through the deserted grounds, followed immediately by the muffled barking of a large dog.**

"Fang is such a sweet dog." Charlie said.

"That he is." Cris said.

**She looked up, her heart hammering. There were lights on in Hagrid's windows and the people she had observed crossing the lawn were now silhouetted against them. The door opened and she distinctly saw six sharply defined figures walk over the threshold. The door closed again and there was silence.**

**Cris felt very uneasy. She glanced around to see whether Ron or Hermione had noticed what she had, but Professor Marchbanks came walking behind her at that moment and, not wanting to look as though she was sneaking looks at anyone else's work, Cris hastily bent over her star chart and pretended to be adding notes to it while really peering over the top of the parapet towards Hagrid's cabin. Figures were now moving across the cabin windows, temporarily blocking the light.**

Glares were sent towards the book and to Umbridge in the room. Umbridge shifted uncomfortably, she was bound too tightly to the chair to do anything, she was only released during meal times even at night she was bound.

**She could feel Professor Marchbanks's eyes on the back of her neck and pressed her eye again to her telescope, staring up at the moon though she had marked its position an hour ago, but as Professor Marchbanks moved on she heard a roar from the distant cabin that echoed through the darkness right to the top of the Astronomy Tower. Several of the people around Cris ducked out from behind their telescopes and peered instead in the direction of Hagrid's cabin.**

**Professor Tofty gave another dry little cough.**

**"Try and concentrate, now, boys and girls," he said softly.**

"Like that's possible when you hear something like that." Sirius said.

"That's true." Hermione said.

**Most people returned to their telescopes. Cris looked to her left. Hermione was gazing transfixed at Hagrid's cabin.**

"Well we all care about Hagrid." Hermione said.

"And I'm sure he appreciates it." Bill said.

**"Ahem - twenty minutes to go," said Professor Tofty.**

**Hermione jumped and returned at once to her star-chart; Cris looked down at her own and noticed that she had mislabeled Venus as Mars. She bent to correct it.**

**There was a loud BANG from the grounds. Several people cried 'Ouch!' when they poked themselves in the face with the ends of their telescopes as they hastened to see what was going on below.**

**Hagrid's door had burst open and by the light flooding out of the cabin they saw him quite clearly a massive figure roaring and brandishing his fists, surrounded by six people, all of whom, judging by the tiny threads of red light they were casting in his direction, seemed to be attempting to Stun him.**

"What?!" Percy cried. 'Hagrid is the most kind-hearted person, why would anyone do this to him?' he thought.

"Stunning him won't do anything, his skin is too thick." Charlie said.

"Good," Gwen, Cris, and Hermione said breathing a sigh of relief.

**"No!" cried Hermione.**

"It's okay Mione, he'll be okay." Ron said.

"Good," Hermione said.

**"My dear!" said Professor Tofty in a scandalized voice. "This is an examination!"**

**But nobody was paying the slightest attention to their star-charts any more. Jets of red light were still flying about beside Hagrid's cabin, yet somehow they seemed to be bouncing off him; he was still upright and still, as far as Cris could see, fighting. Cries and yells echoed across the grounds; a man yelled, "Be reasonable, Hagrid!"**

"You should be reasonable." Padfoot said.

**Hagrid roared, "Reasonable be damned, yeh won' take me like this, Dawlish!"**

"And I liked him, damn good Auror too." Sirius said.

**Cris could see the tiny outline of Fang, attempting to defend Hagrid, leaping repeatedly at the wizards surrounding him until a Stunning Spell caught him and he fell to the ground. **

"Fang was being brave?" Cris asked.

"He was, especially as he's a coward." Charlie said.

**Hagrid gave a howl of fury, lifted the culprit bodily from the ground and threw him; the man flew what looked like ten feet and did not get up again. Hermione gasped, both hands over her mouth; Cris looked round at Ron and saw that he, too, was looking scared. None of them had ever seen Hagrid in a real temper before. **

"You never hurt one of Hagrid's pets." Charlie said.

"Or anyone he cares about." Bill said.

**"Look!" squealed Parvati, who was leaning over the parapet and pointing to the foot of the castle where the front doors had opened again; more light was spilling out on to the dark lawn and a single long black shadow was now rippling across the lawn.**

**"Now, really!" said Professor Tofty anxiously. "Only sixteen minutes left, you know!"**

"Someone is coming to help." Tonks said.

"I wonder who it is." Kingsley said.

"Could be any number of people." Sirius said.

**But nobody paid him the slightest attention: they were watching the person now sprinting towards the battle beside Hagrid's cabin.**

**"How dare you!" the figure shouted as she ran. "How dare you!"**

**"It's McGonagall!" whispered Hermione.**

"Good, I'll stop it." McGonagall said.

**"Leave him alone! Alone, I say!" said Professor McGonagall's voice through the darkness. "On what grounds are you attacking him? He has done nothing, nothing to warrant such -"**

**Hermione, Parvati and Lavender all screamed. No fewer than four Stunners **

"Four?!" screamed most of the room.

"That could easily kill someone." Tonks said.

**had shot from the figures around the cabin toward Professor McGonagall. Halfway between cabin and castle the red beams collided with her; for a moment she looked luminous, illuminated by an eerie red glow, then was lifted right off her feet, landed hard on her back, and moved no more.**

"She's alright, it took her awhile to get back on her feet." Keiran said.

"Madame Pomfrey sorted her out then?" Sirius asked.

"No, she couldn't help her that much, Professor McGonagall was sent to Mungo's." Teddy said.

"See, I'll be just fine." McGonagall said.

**"Galloping gargoyles!" shouted Professor Tofty, who seemed to have forgotten the exam completely. "Not so much as a warning! Outrageous behavior!"**

**"COWARDS!" bellowed Hagrid, his voice carrying clearly to the top of the tower, and several lights flickered back on inside the castle. "RUDDY COWARDS! HAVE SOME O' THAT - AN' THAT -"**

"He's fist fighting." Charlie said awed.

"Even a fully trained Auror will have problems with that." Tonks said.

**"Oh my —" gasped Hermione.**

**Hagrid took two massive swipes at his closest attackers; judging by their immediate collapse, they had been knocked cold. Cris saw Hagrid double over, and thought he had finally been overcome by a spell. But, on the contrary, next moment Hagrid was standing again with what appeared to be a sack on his back - then Cris realized that Fang's limp body was draped around his shoulders.**

"Fang's alright, right?" Cris asked.

"He was fine. He died about ten years ago for us, but he was fine." Al said.

"Well at least he'll be fine." Charlie said.

**"Get him, get him!" screamed Umbridge, but her remaining helper seemed highly reluctant to go within reach of Hagrid's fists; indeed, he was backing away so fast he tripped over one of his unconscious colleagues and fell over. Hagrid had turned and begun to run with Fang still hung around his neck. Umbridge sent one last Stunning Spell after him but it missed; and Hagrid, running full-pelt towards the distant gates, disappeared into the darkness.**

"There's no more Order members besides Severus at Hogwarts." McGonagall said.

"This could be very bad." Remus said.

**There was a long minutes quivering silence as everybody gazed open-mouthed into the grounds.**

**Then Professor Tofty's voice said feebly, "Um… five minutes to go, everybody."**

"I wonder if the point of that was to get everyone to fail Astronomy." Cris said.

"Certainly seems like it." Hermione said.

**Though she had only filled in two-thirds of her chart, Cris was desperate for the exam to end.**

"I'm sure we all were." Neville said.

**When it came at last she, Ron and Hermione forced their telescopes haphazardly back into their holders and dashed back down the spiral staircase. None of the students were going to bed; they were all talking loudly and excitedly at the foot of the stairs about what they had witnessed.**

**"That evil woman!" gasped Hermione, who seemed to be having difficulty talking due to rage.**

**"Trying to sneak up on Hagrid in the dead of night!"**

**"She clearly wanted to avoid another scene like Trelawney's," said Ernie Macmillan sagely, squeezing over to join them.**

"It seems that way, but she choose a very bad time to do it." Tonks said.

"That she did." Sirius said agreeing with his cousin.

**"Hagrid did well, didn't he?" said Ron, who looked more alarmed than impressed. "How come all the spells bounced off him?"**

**"It'll be his giant blood," said Hermione shakily. "Its very hard to Stun a giant, they're like trolls, really tough… but poor Professor McGonagall… four Stunners straight in the chest and she's not exactly young, is she?"**

**"Dreadful, dreadful," said Ernie, shaking his head pompously. "Well, I'm off to bed. Night, all."**

"He just saw a teacher take four stunners and a group of Ministry people trying to stun Hagrid and he's going to bed?" Gwen asked.

"Seems like it, it is late at night." Cris said.

"True,"

**People around them were drifting away, still talking excitedly about what they had just seen.**

**"At least they didn't get to take Hagrid off to Azkaban," said Ron. "I 'spect he's gone to join Dumbledore, hasn't he?"**

"He probably is, if he can find him." Remus said.

**"I suppose so," said Hermione, who looked tearful. "Oh, this is awful, I really thought Dumbledore would be back before long, but now we've lost Hagrid too."**

**They traipsed back to the Gryffindor common room to find it full. The commotion out in the grounds had woken several people, who had hastened to rouse their friends. Seamus and Dean, who had arrived ahead of Cris, Ron and Hermione, were now telling everyone what they had seen and heard from the top of the Astronomy Tower.**

**"But why sack Hagrid now?" asked Angelina Johnson, shaking her head. "It's not like Trelawney; he's been teaching much better than usual this year!"**

"It's because she's prejudice against part-humans, which makes no sense because some them are more powerful than regular humans." Remus said.

**"Umbridge hates part-humans," said Hermione bitterly, flopping down into an armchair. "She was always going to try and get Hagrid out."**

**"And she thought Hagrid was putting Nifflers in her office," piped up Katie Bell.**

**"Oh, blimey," said Lee Jordan, covering his mouth. "It's me who's been putting the Nifflers in her office. Fred and George left me a couple; I've been levitating them in through her window."**

"Oh Lee, now he's going to blame himself like Crisy." Fred said.

"I'm not that bad." Cris said.

"Sure you're not." George said.

**"She'd have sacked him anyway" said Dean. "He was too close to Dumbledore."**

**"That's true," said Cris, sinking into an armchair beside Hermione's.**

**"I just hope Professor McGonagall's all right," said Lavender tearfully.**

**"They carried her back up to the castle, we watched through the dormitory window," said Colin Creevey "She didn't look very well." **

"I'm sure I'll be alright, I'm not as young as I used to be." McGonagall said.

**"Madam Pomfrey will sort her out," said Alicia Spinnet firmly. "She's never failed yet."**

"And if she can't she'll send them to St. Mungo's." Robin said.

**It was nearly four in the morning before the common room cleared. Cris felt wide awake; the image of Hagrid sprinting away into the dark was haunting her; she was so angry with Umbridge she could not think of a punishment bad enough for her, though Ron's suggestion of having her fed to a box of starving Blast-Ended Skrewts had its merits. **

**She fell asleep contemplating hideous revenges and arose from bed three hours later feeling distinctly unrested.**

**Their final exam, History of Magic,**

"That's the last one?" Cris asked.

"At least it doesn't matter that much." Sirius said. Cris smiled at him though she felt something bad was about to happen, it was getting close to the end of the book and something bad always happens towards the end of the year.

**was not to take place until that afternoon. Cris would very much have liked to go back to bed after breakfast, but she had been counting on the morning for a spot of last-minute revision, so instead she sat with her head in her hands by the common-room window, trying hard not to doze off as she read through some of the notes stacked three-and-a-half feet high**

"That's taller than Ry." Al said.

"Isn't Ry only 5 though?" Cris asked.

"Yeah,"

**that Hermione had lent her.**

"Figures," Lily said with a smile.

**The fifth-years entered the Great Hall at two o'clock and took their places in front of their facedown examination papers. Cris felt exhausted. She just wanted this to be over, so that she could go and sleep; then tomorrow, she and Ron were going to go down to the Quidditch pitch - she was going to have a fly on Ron's broom - and savor their freedom from revision.**

"I miss flying." Cris said.

"Me too," the twins said.

**"Turn over your papers," said Professor Marchbanks from the front of the Hall, flicking over the giant hour-glass. "You may begin."**

**Cris stared fixedly at the first question. It was several seconds before it occurred to her that she had not taken in a word of it; there was a wasp buzzing distractingly against one of the high windows. Slowly, tortuously, she at last began to write an answer.**

**She was finding it very difficult to remember names and kept confusing dates. She simply skipped question four (In your opinion, did wand legislation contribute to, or lead to better control of, goblin riots of the eighteenth century?), thinking that she would go back to it if she had time at the end. She had a stab at question five (How was the Statute of Secrecy breached in 1749 and what measures were introduced to prevent a recurrence?) but had a nagging suspicion that she had missed several important points; she had a feeling vampires had come into the story somewhere.**

"They did." Hermione said.

"Thanks," Cris said.

**She looked ahead for a question she could definitely answer and her eyes alighted upon number ten: Describe the circumstances that led to the formation of the International Confederation of Wizards and explain why the warlocks of Liechtenstein refused to join.**

**I know this, Cris thought, though her brain felt torpid and slack. She could visualize a heading, in Hermione's handwriting: The formation of the International Confederation of Wizards… she had read those notes only this morning. **

"Sometimes reading notes before an exam can make you forget." Bill said.

"I know," Cris said.

**She began to write, looking up now and again to check the large hour-glass on the desk beside Professor Marchbanks. She was sitting right behind Parvati Patil, whose long dark hair fell below the back of her chair. Once or twice she found herself staring at the tiny golden lights that glistened in it when she moved her head slightly, and had to give her own head a little shake to clear it.**

… **the first Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards was Pierre Bonaccord, but his appointment was contested by the wizarding community of Liechtenstein, because -**

**All around Cris quills were scratching on parchment like scurrying, burrowing rats. The sun was very hot on the back of her head. What was it that Bonaccord had done to offend the wizards of Liechtenstein? Cris had a feeling it had something to do with trolls… she gazed blankly at the back of Parvati's head again. If she could only perform Legilimency and open a window in the back of her head and see what it was about trolls that had caused the breach between Pierre Bonaccord and Liechtenstein…**

"Cris!" cried the room.

"I haven't done anything yet." Cris said.

"I know it's tempting during this test but try not to cheat." Lily said.

"Okay," Cris said.

**Cris closed her eyes and buried her face in her hands, so that the glowing red of her eyelids grew dark and cool. Bonaccord had wanted to stop troll-hunting and give the trolls rights… but Liechtenstein was having problems with a tribe of particularly vicious mountain trolls… that was it.**

**She opened her eyes; they stung and watered at the sight of the blazing white parchment. Slowly, she wrote two lines about the trolls, then read through what she had done so far. It did not seem very informative or detailed, yet she was sure Hermione's notes on the Confederation had gone on for pages and pages. **

"They do," Hermione said.

"Okay, try not to answer it like that." Lily said.

"Give the basics." Moony said.

**She closed her eyes again, trying to see them, trying to remember… the Confederation had met for the first time in France, yes, she had written that already… Goblins had tried to attend and been ousted… she had written that, too… And nobody from Liechtenstein had wanted to come…**

**Think, she told herself, her face in her hands, while all around her quills scratched out never-ending answers and the sand trickled through the hour-glass at the front…**

**She was walking along the cool, dark corridor to the Department of Mysteries again,**

"Wait, you're having another vision while you're awake." Tonks said.

"This isn't good." Cris said.

**walking with a firm and purposeful tread, breaking occasionally into a run, determined to reach her destination at last… the black door swung open for her as usual, and here she was in the circular room with its many doors…**

**Straight across the stone floor and through the second door… patches of dancing light on the walls and floor and that odd mechanical clicking, but no time to explore, she must hurry…**

**She jogged the last few feet to the third door, which swung open just like the others…**

**Once again she was in the cathedral-sized room full of shelves and glass spheres…**

"The prophecy room," Sirius muttered so that nobody could hear him.

**her heart was beating very fast now… she was going to get there this time… when she reached number ninety-seven she turned left and hurried along the aisle between two rows…**

**But there was a shape on the floor at the very end, a black shape moving on the floor like a wounded animal… Cris' stomach contracted with fear… with excitement…**

**A voice issued from her own mouth, a high, cold voice empty of any human kindness…**

"**Take it for me… lift it down, now… I cannot touch it… but you can"**

"What is it? One of the spheres?" Cris asked.

"What's so special about a sphere?" Hermione asked.

"More than you know." Remus said.

"Why?" the trio asked.

"I'm sure we'll find out." Dumbledore said.

**The black shape on the floor shifted a little. Cris saw a long-fingered white hand clutching a wand rise at the end of her own arm… heard the high, cold voice say "Crucio!"**

Fleur flinched as she read the word.

**The man on the floor let out a scream of pain, attempted to stand but fell back, writhing. Cris was laughing. She raised her wand, the curse lifted and the figure groaned and became motionless.**

**"Lord Voldemort is waiting"**

**Very slowly, his arms trembling, the man on the ground raised his shoulders a few inches and lifted his head. His face was bloodstained and gaunt, twisted in pain yet rigid with defiance…**

**"You'll have to kill me," whispered Sirius.**

"No!" cried Cris as she launched herself at her Godfather.

"I'm fine; I'm going to be fine." Sirius whispered comforting words to her.

"Why are you there? Keiran would've been born." Robin said.

"I don't know," Sirius said as he rocked his goddaughter.

**"Undoubtedly I shall in the end," said the cold voice. "But you will fetch it for me first; Black… you think you have felt pain thus far? Think again… we have hours ahead of us and nobody to hear you scream…"**

**But somebody screamed as Voldemort lowered his wand again; somebody yelled and fell sideways off a hot desk on to the cold stone floor; Cris awoke as she hit the ground, still yelling, her scar on fire, as the Great Hall erupted all around her.**

"Zat's ze chapter." Fleur said.

"You can't be there." Cris said.

"I'll be fine, remember, I'm your boss in the future." Sirius said.

"Okay," Cris said.

"I say we go to bed now and finish the book tomorrow." Dumbledore said.

"That might be a good idea." Mrs. Weasley said.


	35. Break 3

Cris was still sitting on the couch after everyone went to bed. She couldn't sleep and Remus and Sirius promised to help her start Occlumency. They were making tea in the kitchen and Cris was just sitting there staring off into space thinking about what they have read.

"Cris," a voice said bringing her back to her surroundings. She blinked and looked up into Sirius' grey eyes. He handed her a cup of tea and sat down next to her.

"I'm sure I'll be fine." Sirius said as he knew she was thinking about the vision.

"I know, I just don't want to think about losing you, you're the closest thing I have to a father." Cris said.

"I know pup, I know." Sirius said. He pulled her in for a hug until Remus walked into the room.

"Okay, Cris, we are going to start on the Occlumency, alright." Remus said. Cris nodded as Remus pulled up a chair directly in front of her.

"Alright, now I want you to breathe deeply and clear your mind. Think of something that relaxes you. Think of flying, feel the wind blowing through your hair." Remus said.

Cris closed her eyes as she imagined flying, the wind blowing through her hair, she felt herself relax.

Remus and Sirius watched as Cris' shoulders slumped as she breathed deeply. She seemed to be relaxed.

"Cris, now that you are relaxed I need you to empty your mind. We are going to try and get into your mind; I want you to think of a barrier, something that won't come down easily." Remus said.

The only thing Cris could think of was Hogwarts. But the Marauders knew their way around and so did Voldemort so she thought of Peeves inside as well, distracting whoever may be trying to enter her mind.

"Are you ready Cris?" Remus' voice said from a far.

"Yes," Cris whispered thinking of the one place she called home.

Remus and Sirius looked at each other and nodded. Remus raised his wand and pointed it at his niece's head.

"Legilimens," Remus said. Remus was standing in the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts and Remus couldn't help but chuckle. As he started to the nearest door he was suddenly pelted by water balloons. He looked to see Peeves smirking mischievously down at him. Remus ducked out of the way and down the corridor with Peeves chasing him pelting him with water balloons. Deciding enough was enough he pulled out of Cris' mind and laughed.

"Did I do it?" Cris asked panted slightly.

"I dare say you did cub, very marauder like of you." Remus said with a smile.

"What did you see?" Sirius asked.

"Hogwarts, Peeves was chasing me with water balloons." Remus said. Sirius laughed and hugged Cris.

"It's bedtime Prongslet, off to bed you go." Sirius said.

"And try doing what we just did every night, thinking of that." Remus said.

"Okay, night Remus, night Sirius." Cris said.

"Night," the two marauders said. They all went to bed ready for the next day so they could finish the book


	36. Chapter 32: Out of the Fire

Cris was woken up by Hermione and Ginny after a night of no dreams or nightmares and she was grateful for it. She sat up as they smiled at her.

"Sleep well?" Ginny asked.

"Yep," Cris said changing out of her pajamas and into a pair of jeans and a red t-shirt.

"So how was the Occlumency lesson last night?" Hermione asked.

"Really well, it didn't hurt like it did in the book, Remus and Sirius helped me a lot." Cris said.

"Because they know your strengths and Lupin knows how to teach you." Hermione said.

"Yeah, come on, breakfast is ready and we're finishing the rest of the book today." Ginny said.

"Alright," Cris said as she followed her three girl-friends out of the room. In the main room the smell of pancakes and sausage permeated throughout the room making Cris' mouth water. Sirius greeted her good morning with a big hug and a kiss to her temple.

"So did it work?" Sirius asked.

"It did, for once I had a peaceful night's sleep." Cris said.

"Good, let's get something to eat and finish these damn books." Sirius said. Cris smiled and nodded and they headed into the kitchen for breakfast. After everyone finished eating they headed back to their spots in the living room and Bill picked up the book to read the next chapter.

"**Chapter 32: Out of the Fire," **Bill read.

"And back into the Frying pan." Gwen said.

"Vhat?" Viktor asked.

"It's a Muggle saying. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, expect this is backwards." Gwen said.

"Oh,"

**"****I'm not going… I don't need the hospital wing… I don't want."**

**She was gibbering as she tried to pull away from Professor Tofty, who was looking at Cris with much concern after helping her out into the Entrance Hall with the students all around them staring.**

**"****I'm - I'm fine, sir," Cris stammered, wiping the sweat from her face. "Really… I just fell asleep… had a nightmare…"**

"Not an ordinary one though." Ginny said.

"True," Hermione said.

"Somehow I don't think I'll have a good O.W.L. on this one." Cris said. The group laughed at that.

"I don't think you will either, but its okay, History of Magic isn't really that important for what you want to do." Sirius said.

**"****Pressure of examinations!" said the old wizard sympathetically, patting Cris shakily on the shoulder. "It happens, young woman, it happens! Now, a cooling drink of water, and perhaps you will be ready to return to the Great Hall? The examination is nearly over, but you may be able to round off your last answer nicely?" **

"I don't think I'll be able to go back in after something like that." Charlie said.

"I doubt I'll be able to finish the test." Cris said.

"Nobody would blame you." Lily said.

**"Yes," said Cris wildly. "I mean… no… I've done - done as much as I can, I think…"**

**"Very well, very well," said the old wizard gently. "I shall go and collect your examination paper and I suggest that you go and have a nice lie down."**

"Somehow I don't think you're going to be doing that." Ron said.

"I think she's going to see if Sirius is okay." Robin said.

"That is what I would do." Cris said.

**"I'll do that," said Cris, nodding vigorously. "Thanks very much."**

**The second that the old man's heels disappeared over the threshold into the Great Hall, Cris ran up the marble staircase, hurtled along the corridors so fast the portraits she passed muttered reproaches, up more flights of stairs, and finally burst like a hurricane through the double doors of the hospital wing, causing Madam Pomfrey - who had been spooning some bright blue liquid into Montague's open mouth - to shriek in alarm.**

**"Potter, what do you think you're doing?"**

**"I need to see Professor McGonagall," gasped Cris, the breath tearing her lungs. "Now… it's urgent!"**

**"She's not here, Potter," said Madam Pomfrey sadly. "She was transferred to St. Mungo's this morning.**

"I kind of figured she would do that." McGonagall said.

"She couldn't heal you?" Padfoot asked wide eyed. Pomfrey always seemed to heal everything.

"Poppy can heal many things just certain things are above her level." Dumbledore said.

**Four Stunning Spells straight to the chest at her age? It's a wonder they didn't kill her."**

"Four stunners could kill anyone." Tonks said.

**"She's… gone?" said Cris, shocked.**

**The bell rang just outside the dormitory and she heard the usual distant rumbling of students starting to flood out into the corridors above and below her. She remained quite still, looking at Madam Pomfrey. Terror was rising inside her.**

**There was nobody left to tell. Dumbledore had gone, Hagrid had gone, but she had always expected Professor McGonagall to be there, irascible and inflexible, perhaps, but always dependably, solidly present…**

McGonagall smiled at her and Cris smiled back.

**"I don't wonder you're shocked, Potter," said Madam Pomfrey, with a kind of fierce approval in her face. "As if one of them could have Stunned Minerva McGonagall face-on by daylight! Cowardice, that's what it was… despicable cowardice… if I wasn't worried what would happen to you students without me, I'd resign in protest."**

"Then it's probably a really good thing she doesn't." Keiran said.

"I wonder what would happen." Cris said.

"Probably someone who supports the ministry and would have you carted off to Mungo's." Remus said.

"Yeah, I'm glad she doesn't go anywhere." Cris said.

**"Yes," said Cris blankly.**

**She wheeled around and strode blindly from the hospital wing into the teeming corridor where she stood, buffeted by the crowd, panic expanding inside her like poison gas so that her head swam and she could not think what to do…**

**Ron and Hermione, said a voice in her head.**

"I wonder what we can do." Ron said.

"Knowing us, probably something stupid and dangerous. It is the end of the year and something always happens to us at the end of the year." Hermione said.

"That's so true; I wonder why it's the end of the year." Cris said.

"So we have time to learn new spells maybe." Hermione said.

"Seems like it." Ron said.

**She was running again, pushing students out of the way, oblivious to their angry protests. She sprinted back down two floors and was at the top of the marble staircase when she saw them hurrying towards her.**

**"Cris!" said Hermione at once, looking very frightened. "What happened? Are you all right? Are you ill?"**

**"Where have you been?" demanded Ron.**

**"Come with me," Cris said quickly. "Come on, I've got to tell you something."**

**She led them along the first-floor corridor, peering through doorways, and at last found an empty classroom into which she dived, closing the door behind Ron and Hermione the moment they were inside, and leaned against it, facing them.**

**"Voldemort's got Sirius."**

**"What?"**

**"How d'you -?"**

**"Saw it. Just now. When I fell asleep in the exam."**

**"But - but where? How?" said Hermione, whose face was white.**

"You aren't taking this very well." Tonks said.

"I'm sure I'm terrified that he could be anywhere and that if anyone knew if he was missing." Hermione said.

"I'm sure he was home taking his turn of baby duties." Robin said. Keiran blushed deeply at this since he was 21 and his mum was currently pregnant with him.

"You were such a cute baby." Victoire said kissing him sweetly. Keiran blushed brighter because his mum insisted on showing Vic his baby pictures.

**"I dunno how," said Cris. "But I know exactly where. There's a room in the Department of Mysteries full of shelves covered in these little glass balls and they're at the end of row ninety-seven… he's trying to use Sirius to get whatever it is he wants from in there… he's torturing him… says he'll end by killing him!"**

**Cris found her voice was shaking, as were her knees. She moved over to a desk and sat down on it, trying to master herself.**

**"How're we going to get there?" she asked them.**

"I'm not there Cris, don't try and rescue me." Sirius said.

"But this is the future I can't control what my future self does." Cris said.

"Right," Sirius said.

**There was a moment's silence. Then Ron said, "G-get there?"**

**"Get to the Department of Mysteries, so we can rescue Sirius!" Cris said loudly.**

**"But - Cris…" said Ron weakly.**

"This is crazier than our usual end of the year events." Ron said.

"You haven't seen nothing yet." Teddy said.

"We do something crazier than this?" Cris asked.

"The only thing I can think of is breaking into Gringotts." Bill said. He looked over at the future kids and Bill couldn't help but gape at the trio.

"You mean, these three broke into Gringotts?" Charlie asked.

"In their seventh year but they had to. So you'll see when we get to the seventh book." Keiran said.

"That is insane," Hermione said.

"Can we get back to reading?" Snape asked. Bill turned back to the book.

**"What? What?" said Cris.**

**She could not understand why they were both gaping at her as though she was asking them something unreasonable.**

**"Cris," said Hermione in a rather frightened voice, "er… how… how did Voldemort get into the Ministry of Magic without anybody realizing he was there?"**

"Well he's Voldemort and you'd be surprised at what he can do." Cris said.

"That's true, though he would probably make a whole scene of it and everyone would know by now." Remus said.

"True, but you never know." Cris said.

**"How do I know?" bellowed Cris. "The question is how we're going to get in there!"**

**"But… Cris, think about this," said Hermione, taking a step towards him, "it's five o'clock in the afternoon… the Ministry of Magic must be full of workers… how would Voldemort and Sirius have got in without being seen? Cris… they're probably the two most wanted wizards in the world… you think they could get into a building full of Aurors undetected?"**

"Yes, please talk some sense into her, I know she's worried." Lily said.

"We'll try, no promises that it'll work though." Ron said.

"She's too stubborn for her own good." Hermione said.

"She comes by that naturally." Moony said.

"Oi!" cried all the Potters in the room which caused everyone to laugh.

**"I dunno, Voldemort used an Invisibility Cloak or something!" Cris shouted. "Anyway, the Department of Mysteries has always been completely empty whenever I've been -"**

**"You've never been there, Cris," said Hermione quietly. "You've dreamed about the place, that's all."**

"But they're always so realistic." Cris said. "Almost like a memory, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, dreams so realistic it's like you're there." Lily said.

**"They're not normal dreams!" Cris shouted in her face, standing up and taking a step closer to her in turn. She wanted to shake her. "How d'you explain Ron's dad then, what was all that about, how come I knew what had happened to him?"**

**"He's got a point," said Ron quietly, looking at Hermione.**

**"But this is just — just sounds unlikely." said Hermione desperately. "Cris, how on earth could Voldemort have got hold of Sirius when he's been in Grimmauld Place all the time?"**

**"Sirius might've cracked and just wanted some fresh air," said Ron, sounding worried. "He's been desperate to get out of that house for ages -"**

"That's true, but Robin would probably beat me to a pulp if I left." Sirius said.

"That you would be." Robin said.

**"But why," Hermione persisted, "why on earth would Voldemort want to use Sirius to get the weapon, or whatever the thing is?"**

"Because he would know how close I am to Sirius and Remus and use them against me." Cris said.

"We'll make sure that doesn't happen Prongslet." Sirius said.

"Alright," Cris mumbled.

**"I dunno, there could be loads of reasons!" Cris yelled at her. "Maybe Sirius is just someone Voldemort doesn't care about seeing hurt -"**

**"You know what, I've just thought of something," said Ron in a hushed voice. "Sirius's brother was a Death Eater, wasn't he? Maybe he told Sirius the secret of how to get the weapon!"**

"He didn't I doubt Regulus would've told even if we were still close as we were before Hogwarts." Sirius said. Padfoot looked down as he remembered that his brother was dead.

**"Yeah - and that's why Dumbledore's been so keen to keep Sirius locked up all the time!" said Cris.**

**"Look, I'm sorry," cried Hermione, "but neither of you is making sense, and we've got no proof for any of this, no proof Voldemort and Sirius are even there -"**

**"Hermione, Cris has seen them!" said Ron, rounding on her.**

"But we don't know if it is fake or not." Hermione said.

"So I guess I'm going to find out if Sirius is safe at headquarters then." Cris said.

"You're going to sneak into Umbridge's office again, aren't you?" Tonks asked.

"Probably," Cris said.

**"Okay," she said, looking frightened yet determined, "I've just got to say this -"**

**"What?"**

**"You… this isn't a criticism, Cris! But you do… sort of… I mean - don't you think you've got a bit of a - a -saving-people thing!" she said.**

"You do!" shouted the room. Cris blushed brightly but realized that it was true.

"I will always go after someone I love." Cris said.

"And that's why we love you." Fred said kissing her forehead.

**She glared at her.**

**"And what's that supposed to mean, 'a -saving-people thing'?"**

**"Well… you…" she looked more apprehensive than ever. "I mean… last year, for instance… in the lake… during the Tournament… you shouldn't have… I mean, you didn't need to save that little Delacour girl… you got a bit… carried away…"**

"I took it seriously; I saw a little girl and Fleur not coming so I took action." Cris said.

"I couldn't zank 'oo enough, Gabrielle has not stopped talking about 'oo." Fleur said. Cris blushed at that but didn't say anything else.

**A wave of hot, prickly anger swept through Cris' body; how could she remind her of that blunder now?**

"I'm sure I don't want you to do something you'll regret." Hermione said.

"I understand." Cris said.

"Good,"

**"I mean, it was really great of you and everything," said Hermione quickly, looking positively petrified at the look on Cris' face, "everyone thought it was a wonderful thing to do -"**

**"That's funny," said Cris through gritted teeth, "because I definitely remember Ron saying I'd wasted time acting the hero… is that what you think this is? You reckon I want to act the hero again?"**

**"No, no, no!" said Hermione, looking aghast. "That's not what I mean at all!"**

**"Well, spit out what you've got to say, because we're wasting time here!" Cris shouted.**

**"I'm trying to say - Voldemort knows you, Cris! He took Ginny down into the Chamber of Secrets to lure you there, it's the kind of thing he does, he knows you're the - the sort of person who'd go to Sirius's aid! What if he's just trying to get you into the Department of Myst—?"**

**"Hermione, it doesn't matter if he's done it to get me there or not - they've taken McGonagall to St. Mungo's, there isn't anyone from the Order left at Hogwarts who we can tell, and if we don't go, Sirius is dead!"**

Robin winced as did Remus. Sirius took her hand to reassure her that he was there and wasn't going to go anywhere.

**"But Cris - what if your dream was - was just that, a dream?"**

**Cris let out a roar of frustration. Hermione actually stepped back from her, looking alarmed.**

**"You don't get it!" Cris shouted at her, "I'm not having nightmares, I'm not just dreaming! What d'you think all the Occlumency was for, why d'you think Dumbledore wanted me prevented from seeing these things? Because they're REAL, Hermione - Sirius is trapped, I've seen him. Voldemort's got him, and no one else knows, and that means we're the only ones who can save him, and if you don't want to do it, fine, but I'm going, understand? And if I remember rightly, you didn't have a problem with my saving-people thing when it was you I was saving from the Dementors, or -" he rounded on Ron "- when it was your sister I was saving from the Basilisk -"**

**"I never said I had a problem!" said Ron heatedly.**

**"But Cris, you've just said it," said Hermione fiercely, "Dumbledore wanted you to learn to shut these things out of your mind, if you'd done Occlumency properly you'd never have seen this -"**

"Which you know now." Remus said with a smile.

"After the first time?" Snape asked.

"If you know how to teach her then she will succeed." Remus said.

**"IF YOU THINK I'M JUST GOING TO ACT LIKE I HAVEN'T SEEN -"**

**"Sirius told you there was nothing more important than you learning to close your mind!"**

**"WELL, I EXPECT HE'D SAY SOMETHING DIFFERENT IF HE KNEW WHAT I'D JUST-"**

**The classroom door opened. Cris, Ron and Hermione whipped around. Ginny walked in, looking curious, closely followed by Luna, who as usual looked as though she had drifted in accidentally.**

"You tend to do that a lot." Ginny said.

"It makes life more interesting." Luna said.

**"Hi," said Ginny uncertainly. "We recognized Cris' voice. What are you yelling about?"**

**"Never you mind," said Cris roughly.**

**Ginny raised her eyebrows.**

**"There's no need to take that tone with me," she said coolly, "I was only wondering whether I could help."**

**"Well, you can't," said Cris shortly.**

"You two are a lot alike." Ron said.

"You just realized this?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah," Ron said.

"Wow," Cris and Ginny said.

"You're oblivious." Hermione said.

**"You're being rather rude, you know," said Luna serenely.**

"That's because she's worried, James is the exact same way." Sirius said.

"Yeah, he was like that whenever Moony disappeared on the full moon before we figured out about the lycanthropy." Padfoot said.

"It drove me up the wall with worry whenever you disappeared every month." Prongs said.

"Sorry for worrying you." Moony said.

**Cris swore and turned away. The very last thing she wanted now was a conversation with Luna Lovegood.**

**"Wait," said Hermione suddenly. "Wait… Cris, they can help."**

**Cris and Ron looked at her.**

**"Listen," she said urgently, "Cris, we need to establish whether Sirius really has left Headquarters."**

"Good, at least someone is the voice of reason." Lily said.

"Someone has to be." Hermione said.

"Thank Merlin for you." Prongs said.

"We'd probably be lost without Hermione." Ron said.

"Most definitely," Cris said.

**"I've told you, I saw -"**

**"Cris, I'm begging you, please!" said Hermione desperately. "Please let's just check that Sirius isn't at home before we go charging off to London. If we find out he's not there, then I swear I won't try to stop you. I'll come, I'll d - do whatever it takes to try and save him."**

**"Sirius is being tortured NOW!" shouted Cris. "We haven't got time to waste."**

**"But if this is a trick of Voldemort's, Cris, we've got to check, we've got to."**

**"How?" Cris demanded. "How're we going to check?"**

**"We'll have to use Umbridge's fire and see if we can contact him," said Hermione, who looked positively terrified at the thought. "We'll draw Umbridge away again, but we'll need lookouts, and that's where we can use Ginny and Luna."**

**Though clearly struggling to understand what was going on, Ginny said immediately, "Yeah, we'll do it," and Luna said, "When you say 'Sirius', are you talking about Stubby Boardman?"**

The group laughed at that yet again.

"Luna, next time you see your dad give him a hug from me." Sirius said. Luna blinked at him and smiled and nodded.

**Nobody answered her.**

**"Okay," Cris said aggressively to Hermione, "Okay, if you can think of a way of doing this quickly, I'm with you, otherwise I'm going to the Department of Mysteries right now."**

**"The Department of Mysteries?" said Luna, looking mildly surprised. "But how are you going to get there?"**

**Again, Cris ignored her.**

**"Right," said Hermione, twisting her hands together and pacing up and down between the desks.**

**"Right… well… one of us has to go and find Umbridge and - and send her off in the wrong direction, keep her away from her office. They could tell her - I don't know - that Peeves is up to something awful as usual"**

**"I'll do it," said Ron at once. "I'll tell her Peeves is smashing up the Transfiguration department or something, it's miles away from her office. Come to think of it, I could probably persuade Peeves to do it if I met him on the way."**

"He'll do it, anything to make the toad's life even more miserable." Sirius said.

"I wonder if I did talk Peeves into it." Ron said.

"I hope you did." Cris said.

**It was a mark of the seriousness of the situation that Hermione made no objection to the smashing up of the Transfiguration department.**

**"Okay," she said, her brow furrowed as she continued to pace. "Now, we need to keep students right away from her office while we force entry, or some Slytherins bound to go and tip her off."**

**"Luna and I can stand at either end of the corridor," said Ginny promptly, "and warn people not to go down there because someone's let off a load of Garrotting Gas."**

"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley said shocked.

"You don't realize I spend a lot of time with them." Ginny said.

"We've corrupted her!" the twins shouted. Mrs. Weasley groaned at that she was hoping that Ginny wouldn't be like the twins.

**Hermione looked surprised at the readiness with which Ginny had come up with this lie; Ginny shrugged and said, "Fred and George were planning to do it before they left."**

**"Okay," said Hermione. "Well then, Cris, you and I will be under the Invisibility Cloak and we'll sneak into the office and you can talk to Sirius -"**

**"He's not there, Hermione!"**

"But we don't know that." Hermione said.

"True," Cris said.

**"I mean, you can - can check whether Sirius is at home or not while I keep watch, I don't think you should be in there alone, Lee's already proved the windows a weak spot, sending those Nifflers through it."**

**Even through her anger and impatience, Cris recognized Hermione's offer to accompany her into Umbridge's office as a sign of solidarity and loyalty.**

**"I… okay, thanks," she muttered.**

**"Right, well, even if we do all of that, I don't think we're going to be able to bank on more than five minutes," said Hermione, looking relieved that Cris seemed to have accepted the plan, "not with Filch and the wretched Inquisitorial Squad floating around."**

**"Five minutes will be enough," said Cris. "C'mon, let's go -"**

**"Now?" said Hermione, looking shocked.**

**"Of course now!" said Cris angrily. "What did you think, we're going to wait until after dinner or something? Hermione, Sirius is being tortured right now!"**

**"I - oh, all right," she said desperately. "You go and get the Invisibility Cloak and we'll meet you at the end of Umbridge's corridor, okay?"**

**Cris didn't answer, but flung herself out of the room and began to fight her way through the milling crowds outside. Two floors up she met Seamus and Dean, who hailed her jovially and told her they were planning a dusk-till-dawn end-of-exams celebration in the common room.**

"Those are fun." Padfoot said.

"Not now, Pads." Prongs whispered. Padfoot nodded and kept quiet.

**Cris barely heard them. She scrambled through the portrait hole while they were still arguing about how many black-market Butterbeers they would need and was climbing back out of it, the Invisibility Cloak and Sirius's knife secure in her bag, before they noticed she had left them.**

**"Cris, d'you want to chip in a couple of Galleons? Harold Dingle reckons he could sell us some Firewhisky -" **

"You better not." Lily said.

"I don't think I'm going to mum." Cris said.

"Good," Lily said.

**But Cris was already tearing away back along the corridor, and a couple of minutes later was jumping the last few stairs to join Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Luna, who were huddled together at the end of Umbridge's corridor.**

**"Got it," she panted. "Ready to go, then?"**

**"All right," whispered Hermione as a gang of loud sixth-years passed them. "So Ron - you go and head Umbridge off… Ginny, Luna, if you can start moving people out of the corridor… Cris and I will get the Cloak on and wait until the coast is clear…"**

**Ron strode away, his bright-red hair visible right to the end of the passage; meanwhile Ginny's equally vivid head bobbed between the jostling students surrounding them in the other direction, trailed by Luna's blonde one.**

**"Get over here," muttered Hermione, tugging at Cris' wrist and pulling her back into a recess where the ugly stone head of a medieval wizard stood muttering to itself on a column. "Are - are you sure you're okay, Cris? You're still very pale."**

"Of course she's pale; she's frightened of losing Sirius." Robin said.

"I know, I worry every time she goes pale." Hermione said.

"Thanks Mia," Cris said with a smile.

**"I'm fine," she said shortly, tugging the Invisibility Cloak from out of her bag. In truth, her scar was aching, but not so badly that she thought Voldemort had yet dealt Sirius a fatal blow; it had hurt much worse than this when Voldemort had been punishing Avery…**

**"Here," she said; she threw the Invisibility Cloak over both of them and they stood listening carefully over the Latin mumblings of the bust in front of them.**

**"You can't come down here!" Ginny was calling to the crowd. "No, sorry, you're going to have to go round by the swiveling staircase, someone's let off Garrotting Gas just along here -"**

**They could hear people complaining; one surly voice said, "I can't see no gas."**

**"That's because it's colorless," said Ginny in a convincingly exasperated voice, "but if you want to walk through it, carry on, then we'll have your body as proof for the next idiot who doesn't believe us."**

"What if they don't believe you?" Bill asked.

"I'll probably stun them then." Ginny said with a shrug.

**Slowly, the crowd thinned. The news about the Garrotting Gas seemed to have spread; people were not coming this way anymore. When at last the surrounding area was quite clear, Hermione said quietly, "I think that's as good as we're going to get, Cris — come on, let's do it."**

**They moved forwards, covered by the Cloak. Luna was standing with her back to them at the far end of the corridor. **

**As they passed Ginny, Hermione whispered, "Good one… don't forget the signal."**

**"What's the signal?" muttered Cris, as they approached Umbridge's door.**

**"A loud chorus of 'Weasley is our King'**

"Yeah, that'll get my attention, it's annoying, even the nice one." Cris said.

"Really?" Ron asked frowning slightly.

"Just a little bit." Cris said.

**if they see Umbridge coming," replied Hermione, as Cris inserted the blade of Sirius's knife in the crack between door and wall. The lock clicked open and they entered the office.**

**The garish kittens were basking in the late-afternoon sunshine that was warming their plates, but otherwise the office was as still and unoccupied as last time. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.**

**"I thought she might have added extra security after the second Niffler."**

"She might have silent alarms on the door." Mr. Weasley said. Cris and Hermione went wide eyed.

"We are going to be in so much trouble." Cris said.

"No kidding," Hermione said.

**They pulled off the Cloak; Hermione hurried over to the window and stood out of sight, peering down into the grounds with her wand out. Cris dashed over to the fireplace, seized the pot of Floo powder and threw a pinch into the grate, causing emerald flames to burst into life there. She knelt down quickly, thrust her head into the dancing fire and cried, "Number twelve, Grimmauld Place!"**

**Her head began to spin as though she had just got off a fair-ground ride though her knees remained firmly planted on the cold office floor. She kept her eyes screwed up against the whirling ash and when the spinning stopped she opened them to find herself looking out at the long, cold kitchen of Grimmauld Place.**

**There was nobody there. She had expected this, yet was not prepared for the molten wave of dread and panic that seemed to burst through her stomach at the sight of the deserted room. **

"I might be feeding Buckbeak and Robin might be feeding Keiran." Sirius said. Keiran blushed again as Victoire kissed his cheek.

**"Sirius?" she shouted. "Sirius, are you there?"**

**Her voice echoed around the room, but there was no answer except a tiny scuffing sound to the right of the fire.**

**"Who's there?" she called, wondering whether it was just a mouse.**

**Kreacher the house-elf crept into view. He looked highly delighted about something, though he seemed to have recently sustained a nasty injury to both hands, which were heavily bandaged.**

"Something isn't right." Sirius said.

"He must have done something terrible then." Padfoot said.

**"It's the Potter girl's head in the fire," Kreacher informed the empty kitchen, stealing furtive, oddly triumphant glances at Cris. "What has she come for, Kreacher wonders?"**

**"Where's Sirius, Kreacher?" Cris demanded.**

**The house-elf gave a wheezy chuckle.**

**"Master has gone out, Cristal Potter."**

"That can't be right." Sirius said.

"She isn't technically part of the family; he doesn't have to listen to her." Robin said.

"So he's lying to her?" Padfoot asked.

"Yes," Robin said.

"Great, now I think Sirius is in danger and I'm going to head to the Ministry." Cris said.

"Good luck with that." Tonks said.

"I always need the luck." Cris said.

**"Where's he gone? Where's he gone, Kreacher?"**

**Kreacher merely cackled.**

**"I'm warning you!" said Cris, fully aware that her scope for inflicting punishment upon Kreacher was almost non-existent in this position. "What about Remus? Mad-Eye? Any of them, are any of them there?"**

"Of course I'd be there." Robin said.

**"Nobody here but Kreacher!" said the elf gleefully, and turning away from Cris he began to walk slowly towards the door at the end of the kitchen. "Kreacher thinks he will have a little chat with his mistress now, yes, he hasn't had a chance in a long time, Kreacher's master has been keeping him away from her -"**

**"Where has Sirius gone?" Cris yelled after the elf. "Kreacher, has he gone to the Department of Mysteries?"**

"He won't tell you, that damned elf." Sirius said.

**Kreacher stopped in his tracks. Cris could just make out the back of his bald head through the forest of chair legs before her.**

**"Master does not tell poor Kreacher where he is going," said the elf quietly.**

**"But you know!" shouted Cris. "Don't you? You know where he is!"**

**There was a moment's silence, then the elf let out his loudest cackle yet.**

"That elf has gone insane." Padfoot said.

**"Master will not come back from the Department of Mysteries!" he said gleefully. "Kreacher and his mistress are alone again!"**

"It's a trap, now I'm certain of it." Tonks said.

**And he scurried forwards and disappeared through the door to the hall.**

**"You -!"**

**But before she could utter a single curse or insult, Cris felt a great pain at the top of her head;**

"You got caught." Sirius said.

"I have the worst luck." Cris said.

**she inhaled a lot of ash and, choking, found herself being dragged backwards through the flames, until with a horrible abruptness she was staring up into the wide, pallid face of Professor Umbridge who had dragged her backwards out of the fire by her ponytail and was now bending her neck back as far as it would go, as though she were going to slit her throat.**

"She better not have hurt you." Sirius said with a growl.

**"You think," she whispered, bending Cris' neck back even further, so that she was looking up at the ceiling, "that after two Nifflers I was going to let one more foul, scavenging little creature enter my office without my knowledge? I had Stealth Censoring Spells placed all around my doorway after the last one got in, you foolish girl. Take her wand," she barked at someone she could not see, and she felt a hand grope inside the chest pocket of her robes and remove the wand.**

**"Hers, too."**

**Cris heard a scuffle over by the door and knew that Hermione had also just had her wand wrested from her.**

"You both got caught." Charlie groaned.

"We still have Ron, Ginny and Luna out there." Hermione said.

"We probably got caught too." Ron said.

"That would suck." Ginny said.

**"I want to know why you are in my office," said Umbridge, shaking the fist clutching her ponytail so that she staggered.**

**"I was - trying to get my Firebolt!" Cris croaked.**

"Believable if she hadn't moved it." Prongs said.

"You need better lies." Padfoot said.

"I'll work on it." Cris said with a smile.

**"Liar." She shook her head again. "Your Firebolt is under strict guard in the dungeons, as you very well know, Potter. You had your head in my fire. With whom have you been communicating?"**

"A deranged house-elf." Remus said.

"That's very true." Sirius said.

"**No one -" said Cris, trying to pull away from her. She felt several hairs part company with her scalp.**

"**Liar!" shouted Umbridge. She threw her from her and she slammed into the desk. Now she could see Hermione pinioned against the wall by Millicent Bulstrode. Malfoy was leaning on the windowsill, smirking as he threw Cris' wand into the air one-handed and caught it again.**

**There was a commotion outside and several large Slytherins entered, each gripping Ron, Ginny, Luna and - to Cris' bewilderment - Neville,**

"What am I doing there?" Neville asked.

"You probably saw Ginny and Luna in trouble and went to help." Cris said.

"Probably," Neville said.

**who was trapped in a stranglehold by Crabbe and looked in imminent danger of suffocation. All four of them had been gagged.**

**"Got 'em all," said Warrington, shoving Ron roughly forwards into the room. "That one," he poked a thick finger at Neville, "tried to stop me taking her," he pointed at Ginny, who was trying to kick the shins of the large Slytherin girl holding her, "so I brought him along too."**

**"Good, good," said Umbridge, watching Ginny's struggles. "Well, it looks as though Hogwarts will shortly be a Weasley-free zone, doesn't it?"**

"Not for a little while anyway." Remus said.

"Then Vic here will arrive." Keiran said.

"At the moment there are nine including us." Al said pointing to James and Lily J.

"That's crazy." Tonks said.

**Malfoy laughed loudly and sycophantically. Umbridge gave her wide, complacent smile and settled herself into a chintz-covered armchair, blinking up at her captives like a toad in a flowerbed.**

**"So, Potter," she said. "You stationed lookouts around my office and you sent this buffoon," she nodded at Ron — Malfoy laughed even louder - "to tell me the poltergeist was wreaking havoc in the Transfiguration department when I knew perfectly well that he was busy smearing ink on the eyepieces of all the school telescopes - Mr. Filch having just informed me so.**

"Okay, terrible plan." Sirius said.

"We'll work on some good ones." Cris said.

**Yes, Cris thought bitterly, it seem that everything went wrong today, and there were so many ways they could have prevent this.**

**"Clearly, it was very important for you to talk to somebody. Was it Albus Dumbledore? Or the half-breed, Hagrid? I doubt it was Minerva McGonagall, I hear she is still too ill to talk to anyone."**

**Malfoy and a few of the other members of the Inquisitorial Squad laughed some more at that. Cris found she was so full of rage and hatred she was shaking.**

**"It's none of your business who I talk to," she snarled.**

"That's true, you can't control who she talks to." Sirius said.

**Umbridge's slack face seemed to tighten.**

**"Very well," she said in her most dangerous and falsely sweet voice. "Very well, Miss Potter… I offered you the chance to tell me freely. You refused. I have no alternative but to force you. Draco, fetch Professor Snape." **

"This is not going to be good." Sirius said.

"You don't know, he could help." Remus said.

"I doubt it though." Sirius said.

**Malfoy stowed Cris' wand inside his robes and left the room smirking, but Cris hardly noticed. She had just realized something; she could not believe she had been so stupid as to forget it. She had thought that all the members of the Order, all those who could help her save Sirius, were gone - but she had been wrong. There was still a member of the Order of the Phoenix at Hogwarts - Snape.**

"Now she remembers me." Snape said rolling her eyes.

"Well to be fair, you never saw past that she looks like her father and you don't like her so why would she remember you?" McGonagall asked.

**There was silence in the office except for the fidgeting's and scuffling's resulting from the Slytherins' efforts to keep Ron and the others under control. Ron's lip was bleeding on to Umbridge's carpet as he struggled against Warrington's half-nelson; Ginny was still trying to stamp on the feet of the sixth-year girl who had both her upper arms in a tight grip; Neville was turning steadily more purple in the face while tugging at Crabbe's arms; and Hermione was attempting, in vain, to throw Millicent Bulstrode off her. Luna, however, stood limply by the side of her captor, gazing vaguely out of the window as though rather bored by the proceedings.**

"That's actually a good strategy, pretend to cooperate and then escape them when they are least expecting it." Tonks said.

**Cris looked back at Umbridge, who was watching her closely. She kept her face deliberately smooth and blank as footsteps were heard in the corridor outside and Draco Malfoy entered the room, closely followed by Snape.**

**"You wanted to see me, Headmistress?" said Snape, looking around at all the pairs of struggling students with an expression of complete indifference.**

**"Ah, Professor Snape," said Umbridge, smiling widely and standing up again. "Yes, I would like another bottle of Veritaserum, as quick as you can, please."**

**"You took my last bottle to interrogate Potter," he said, surveying her coolly through his greasy curtains of black hair. "Surely you did not use it all? I told you that three drops would be sufficient."**

**Umbridge flushed.**

"It's a good thing that you didn't drink the tea then, that much could have been deadly." Kingsley said.

**"You can make some more, can't you?" she said, her voice becoming more sweetly girlish as it always did when she was furious.**

**"Certainly," said Snape, his lip curling. "It takes a full moon-cycle to mature, so I should have it ready for you in around a month."**

"Good, so how are they going to get out of there?" Alice asked.

"That is a very good question." Amelia said.

"We shall see." Cris said.

**"A month?" squawked Umbridge, swelling toadishly. "A month? But I need it this evening, Snape! I have just found Potter using my fire to communicate with a person or persons unknown!"**

**"Really?" said Snape, showing his first, faint sign of interest as he looked round at Cris. "Well, it doesn't surprise me. Potter has never shown much inclination to follow school rules."**

**His cold, dark eyes were boring into Cris', who met his gaze unflinchingly, concentrating hard on what she had seen in her dream, willing Snape to read it in her mind, to understand…**

"There's a first time for everything." Lily said.

"It's official, I've gone crazy." Cris muttered.

"We've known that, love." Fred said.

"But we still love you." George said.

**"I wish to interrogate her repeated Umbridge angrily, and Snape looked away from Cris back into her furiously quivering face. "I wish you to provide me with a potion that will force her to tell me the truth!"**

**"I have already told you," said Snape smoothly, "that I have no further stocks of Veritaserum. Unless you wish to poison Potter - and I assure you I would have the greatest sympathy with you if you did - I cannot help you. The only trouble is that most venoms act too fast to give the victim much time for truth-telling."**

"Yeah, I'd rather live." Cris said.

"So do most people." Lily J said.

**Snape looked back at Cris, who stared at him, frantic to communicate without words.**

**Voldemort's got Sirius in the Department of Mysteries, she thought, he's got Sirius -**

**"You are on probation!" shrieked Professor Umbridge, and Snape looked back at her, his eyebrows slightly raised. "You are being deliberately unhelpful! I expected better, Lucius Malfoy always speaks most highly of you! Now get out of my office!"**

**Snape gave her an ironic bow and turned to leave. Cris knew her last chance of letting the Order know what was going on was walking out of the door.**

**"He's got Padfoot!" she shouted. "He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!"**

"Good, she won't know my nickname; Snape's heard it loads of times in school." Sirius said.

**Snape had stopped with his hand on Umbridge's door handle.**

**"Padfoot?" cried Professor Umbridge, looking eagerly from Cris to Snape. "What is Padfoot? Where what is hidden? What does she mean, Snape?"**

**Snape looked round at Cris. His face was inscrutable. Cris could not tell whether he had understood or not, but she did not dare speak more plainly in front of Umbridge.**

"I'll understand, though I may not respond like I understand." Snape said. Cris nodded thankfully she got the message across.

**"I have no idea," said Snape coldly.**

"See, I may say that but I understand and will let the appropriate people know." Snape said.

"Good," Sirius said.

**"Potter, when I want nonsense shouted at me I shall give you a Babbling Beverage. And Crabbe, loosen your hold a little. If Longbottom suffocates it will mean a lot of tedious paperwork and I am afraid I shall have to mention it on your reference if ever you apply for a job."**

"Good, I'd rather not suffocate to death." Neville said.

**He closed the door behind him with a snap, leaving Cris in a state of worse turmoil than before: Snape had been her very last hope. **

**She looked at Umbridge, who seemed to be feeling the same way; her chest was heaving with rage and frustration.**

**"Very well," she said, and she pulled out her wand. "Very well...I am left with no alternative... this is more than a matter of school discipline...this is an issue of Ministry security...yes...yes…"**

"I have a very bad feeling about this." Lily said. Fred and George held Cris tighter to them worried about what was about to happen.

**She seemed to be talking herself into something. She was shifting her weight nervously from foot to foot, staring at Cris, beating her wand against her empty palm and breathing heavily. As she watched her, Cris felt horribly powerless without her own wand.**

**"You are forcing me, Potter… I do not want to," said Umbridge, **

"Punch her Cris," Gwen said.

"Yeah, that's not a very smart thing to do." Cris said.

**still moving restlessly on the spot, "but sometimes circumstances justify the use… I am sure the Minister will understand that I had no choice."**

**Malfoy was watching her with a hungry expression on his face.**

**"The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue," said Umbridge quietly.**

"What!" screamed the room. Amelia Bones and Fudge were staring at Umbridge in disbelief.

"She better not use that curse on you, it's bad enough you've been put under it twice." Sirius said.

"Definitely don't want to go through that experience again." Cris said quietly.

**"No!" shrieked Hermione. "Professor Umbridge - it's illegal."**

**But Umbridge took no notice. There was a nasty, eager, excited look on her face that Cris had never seen before. She raised her wand.**

**"The Minister wouldn't want you to break the law, Professor Umbridge!" cried Hermione.**

**"What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him," said Umbridge, who was now panting slightly as she pointed her wand at different parts of Cris' body in turn, apparently trying to decide where it would hurt most. **

Growls were heard throughout the room.

**"He never knew I ordered Dementors to go after Potter last summer, but he was delighted to be given the chance to expel her, all the same."**

**"It was you!" gasped Cris. "You sent the Dementors after me?"**

"Dolores Umbridge, when this is all over you will be going to Azkaban for what you've done." Amelia said.

"It's a good thing you knew the Patronus then, I bet she was hoping that you would have received the kiss." Remus said.

"I think so too," Sirius said.

**"Somebody had to act," breathed Umbridge, as her wand came to rest pointing directly at Cris' forehead. "They were all bleating about silencing you somehow - discrediting you - but I was the one who actually did something about it… only you wriggled out of that one, didn't you, Potter? Not today though, not now -" And taking a deep breath, she cried, "Cruc—"**

Before someone could act Sirius stood up was across the room and punched Umbridge across the face.

"Sirius," Cris said wide eyed.

"Don't you fucking dare try to do that to her or anyone else ever again." Sirius whispered to her face. Umbridge was wide-eyed but nodded her head so fast it almost looked like a blur. Sirius sat back down in his seat and pretty soon Cris went and hugged him as Bill continued reading.

**"NO!" shouted Hermione in a cracked voice from behind Millicent Bulstrode. "No - Cris - we'll have to tell her!"**

"Wait, Hermione, what are you planning?" Ron asked.

"I don't know, but I hope it's enough to stop her from cursing Cris." Hermione said.

"Me too," Ginny said.

**"No way!" yelled Cris, staring at the little of Hermione he could see.**

**"We'll have to, Cris, she'll force it out of you anyway, what's… what's the point?"**

**And Hermione began to cry weakly into the back of Millicent Bulstrode's robes. Millicent stopped trying to squash her against the wall immediately and dodged out of her way looking disgusted.**

**"Well, well, well!" said Umbridge, looking triumphant. "Little Miss Question-all is going to give us some answers! Come on then, girl, come on!"**

**"Er - my - nee - no!" shouted Ron through his gag.**

"I bet we all are really confused." Ginny said.

"I don't have to bet, I know we're confused." Ron said.

**Ginny was staring at Hermione as though she had never seen her before. Neville, still choking for breath, was gazing at her, too. But Cris had just noticed something. Though Hermione was sobbing desperately into her hands, there was no trace of a tear.**

"Nice act Mia," Cris said with a smile.

"Well I was in some of the plays we put on in primary school." Hermione said.

"I didn't know that." Cris said.

"You'd make a great Marauder." Prongs said with a smile.

**"I'm - I'm sorry everyone," said Hermione. "But - I can't stand it -"**

**"That's right, that's right, girl!" said Umbridge, seizing Hermione by the shoulders, thrusting her into the abandoned chintz chair and leaning over her. "Now then… with whom was Potter communicating just now?"**

**"Well," gulped Hermione into her hands, "well, he was trying to speak to Professor Dumbledore." **

"That'll grab her attention." Kingsley said.

**Ron froze, his eyes wide; Ginny stopped trying to stamp on her Slytherin captor's toes; and even Luna looked mildly surprised. Fortunately, the attention of Umbridge and her minions was focused too exclusively upon Hermione to notice these suspicious signs.**

"But you notice them." Tonks said.

"You'd make one hell of an Auror." Moody said.

**"Dumbledore?" said Umbridge eagerly. "You know where Dumbledore is, then?"**

**"Well… no" sobbed Hermione. "We've tried the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley and the Three Broomsticks and even the Hog's Head -"**

"Out of those I think I would be in the Hog's Head." Dumbledore said with a chuckle.

"Where do you think you are?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not sure, any number of places." Dumbledore said.

**"Idiot girl - Dumbledore won't be sitting in a pub when the whole Ministry's looking for him!" shouted Umbridge, disappointment etched in every sagging line of her face.**

"Then it is likely that I am at a pub then." Dumbledore said with a chuckle.

**"But - but we needed to tell him something important!" wailed Hermione, holding her hands more tightly over her face, not, Cris knew, out of anguish, but to disguise the continued absence of tears.**

**"Yes?" said Umbridge with a sudden resurgence of excitement. "What was it you wanted to tell him?"**

**"We… we wanted to tell him it's r - ready!" choked Hermione. **

"What's ready?" the room asked.

"I have no clue." Hermione said.

**"What's ready?" demanded Umbridge, and now she grabbed Hermione's shoulders again and shook her slightly. "What's ready, girl?"**

"You shouldn't be a teacher at all, that's not how you treat children." McGonagall said.

"And her name isn't girl." Cris said.

**"The… the weapon," said Hermione.**

"What weapon?" some of the group asked.

"I get it, you're going to make her think that the D.A. was making some sort of weapon." Remus said.

"Apparently," Hermione said.

"It's brilliant." Cris said with a smile.

**"Weapon? Weapon?" said Umbridge, and her eyes seemed to pop with excitement. "You have been developing some method of resistance? A weapon you could use against the Ministry? On Professor Dumbledore's orders, of course?"**

"I love how she's making this so easy." Padfoot said.

"I know, I love it." Prongs said.

**"Y — y - yes," gasped Hermione, "but he had to leave before it was finished and n - n - now we've finished it for him, and we c - c - can't find him t - t - to tell him!"**

**"What kind of weapon is it?" said Umbridge harshly, her stubby hands still tight on Hermione's shoulders.**

**"We don't r - r - really understand it," said Hermione, sniffing loudly. "We j - j - just did what P - P - Professor Dumbledore told us t - t - to do."**

"Good, no technical explanations because she thinks you all are stupid anyway which is crazy." Charlie said.

**Umbridge straightened up, looking exultant.**

**"Lead me to the weapon," she said.**

**"I'm not showing… them," said Hermione shrilly, looking around at the Slytherins through her fingers.**

**"It is not for you to set conditions," said Professor Umbridge harshly.**

**"Fine," said Hermione, now sobbing into her hands again. "Fine… let them see it, I hope they use it on you! In fact, I wish you'd invite loads and loads of people to come and see! Th - that would serve you right - oh, I'd love it if the wh - whole school knew where it was, and how to u - use it, and then if you annoy any of them they'll be able to s - sort you out!"**

"Damn girl, where is this side of you more often?" Fred asked.

"Away from corruption." Hermione said with a giggle.

**These words had a powerful impact on Umbridge: she glanced swiftly and suspiciously around at her Inquisitorial Squad, her bulging eyes resting for a moment on Malfoy, who was too slow to disguise the look of eagerness and greed that had appeared on his face.**

**Umbridge contemplated Hermione for another long moment, then spoke in what she clearly thought was a motherly voice.**

**"All right, dear, let's make it just you and me… and we'll take Potter, too, shall we? Get up, now."**

**"Professor," said Malfoy eagerly, "Professor Umbridge, I think some of the Squad should come with you to look after -"**

**"I am a fully qualified Ministry official, Malfoy, do you really think I cannot manage two wandless teenagers alone?"**

"Her mistake." Cris said with a smile.

"No kidding, this should be fun." Hermione said.

**asked Umbridge sharply. "In any case, it does not sound as though this weapon is something that schoolchildren should see. You will remain here until I return and make sure none of these -" she gestured around at Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna "- escape."**

"Oh, we'll escape, and it'll be brilliant." Ron said.

**"All right," said Malfoy, looking sulky and disappointed.**

**"And you two can go ahead of me and show me the way" said Umbridge, pointing at Cris and Hermione with her wand. "Lead on."**

"That's the chapter." Bill said. He tossed the book to his daughter so she could read the next chapter.


	37. Chapter 33: Fight and Flight

"**Chapter 33: Fight and Flight," **Victoire read.

"Isn't supposed to be Fight or Flight?" Gwen asked.

"Yes, but I think it's being literal." Hermione said.

**Cris had no idea what Hermione was planning, or even whether she had a plan. **

"I'm sure I have something planned." Hermione said.

"You usually do." Cris said.

"If you didn't that would mean that the world was ending." Ron said with a smirk and kissed her cheek.

**She walked half a pace behind her as they headed down the corridor outside Umbridge's office, knowing it would look very suspicious if she appeared not to know where they were going. She did not dare attempt to talk to her; Umbridge was walking so closely behind them that she could hear her ragged breathing.**

**Hermione led the way down the stairs into the Entrance Hall. The din of loud voices and the clatter of cutlery on plates echoed from out of the double doors to the Great Hall - it seemed incredible to Cris that twenty feet away were people who were enjoying dinner, celebrating the end of exams, not a care in the world…**

"They are probably worrying about how well they did." Lily said.

"I know I worried." Bill said.

"Everyone does." Remus said.

**Hermione walked straight out of the oak front doors and down the stone steps into the balmy evening air. The sun was falling towards the tops of the trees in the Forbidden Forest now, and as Hermione marched purposefully across the grass - Umbridge jogging to keep up - their long dark shadows rippled over the grass behind them like cloaks.**

**"****It's hidden in Hagrid's hut, is it?" said Umbridge eagerly in Cris' ear.**

**"****Of course not," said Hermione scathingly. "Hagrid might have set it off accidentally"**

"Smart lass, play off people's prejudices." Moody said.

**"****Yes," said Umbridge, whose excitement seemed to be mounting. "Yes, he would have done, of course, the great half-breed oaf."**

**She laughed. Cris felt a strong urge to swing round and seize her by the throat, but resisted. Her scar was throbbing in the soft evening air but it had not yet burned white-hot, as she knew it would if Voldemort had moved in for the kill.**

**"Then… where is it?" asked Umbridge, with a hint of uncertainty in her voice as Hermione continued to stride towards the Forest.**

**"****In there, of course," said Hermione, pointing into the dark trees. "It had to be somewhere that students weren't going to find it accidentally, didn't it?"**

"I think I know where this is going." Remus said with a smile.

"I think I have a faint idea as well." Cris said with a smile.

**"****Of course," said Umbridge, though she sounded a little apprehensive now. "Of course… very well, then… you two stay ahead of me."**

**"****Can we have your wand, then, if we're going first?" Cris asked her.**

"Somehow I don't think she will give it to you." Tonks said.

"It was worth a try." Cris said.

**"****No, I don't think so, Miss Potter," said Umbridge sweetly, poking her in the back with it. "The Ministry places a rather higher value on my life than yours, I'm afraid."**

"Um I don't think so; I'd like to see you face Voldemort." Amelia said.

"No, she'd run away screaming before he killed her." Sirius said.

"That is so true." Laughed most of the room.

**As they reached the cool shade of the first trees, Cris tried to catch Hermione's eye; walking into the Forest without wands seemed to her to be more foolhardy than anything they had done so far this evening. **

"Yeah, it can be rather dangerous." Sirius said.

"I hope the two of you get out of there okay." Remus said.

**She, however, merely gave Umbridge a contemptuous glance and plunged straight into the trees, moving at such a pace that Umbridge, with her shorter legs, had difficulty in keeping up.**

**"****Is it very far in?" Umbridge asked, as her robe ripped on a bramble.**

**"****Oh yes," said Hermione, "yes, it's well hidden."**

"So well hidden that it doesn't even exist." Charlie said.

**Cris' misgivings increased. Hermione was not taking the path they had followed to visit Grawp, but the one she followed three years ago to the lair of the monster Aragog.**

"You should have told me that." Hermione said.

"I think I tried but it would be too suspicious to Umbridge." Cris said.

**Hermione had not been with her on that occasion; she doubted she had any idea what danger lay at the end of it.**

"I don't know, but now I do know, you'll have to show me." Hermione said.

"I will," Cris promised.

"I'll stay out of that." Ron said shivering at the thought of the spiders.

**"****Er - are you sure this is the right way?" she asked her pointedly.**

"I think you have to be blunter." Hermione said.

"Well I can't go out and say that's the way to the Acromantulas." Cris said.

"True," Hermione said.

**"****Oh yes," she said in a steely voice, crashing through the undergrowth with what she thought was a wholly unnecessary amount of noise. Behind them, Umbridge tripped over a fallen sapling.**

**Neither of them paused to help her up again; Hermione merely strode on, calling loudly over her shoulder, "It's a bit further in!"**

**"****Hermione, keep your voice down," Cris muttered, hurrying to catch up with her. "Anything could be listening in here -"**

"I think that may be the point." Bill said.

"This should be very good then." Sirius said with a wide grin and rubbing his hands together.

**"****I want us heard," she answered quietly, as Umbridge jogged noisily after them. "You'll see…"**

**They walked on for what seemed a long time, until they were once again so deep into the Forest that the dense tree canopy blocked out all light. Cris had the feeling she had had before in the Forest, one of being watched by unseen eyes. **

"You are probably being watched then." Charlie said.

**"****How much further?" demanded Umbridge angrily from behind her.**

**"****Not far now!" shouted Hermione, as they emerged into a dim, dank clearing. "Just a little bit -"**

**An arrow flew through the air and landed with a menacing thud in the tree just over her head. The air was suddenly full of the sound of hooves; Cris could feel the Forest floor trembling; Umbridge gave a little scream and pushed her in front of her like a shield -**

"What the hell?!" Remus shouted.

"You're a teacher, a piss poor one but still a teacher, you are supposed to protect the students not make them you're shield." Robin said.

**She wrenched herself free of her and turned. Around fifty centaurs were emerging on every side, their bows raised and loaded, pointing at Cris, Hermione and Umbridge. They backed slowly into the center of the clearing, Umbridge uttering odd little whimpers of terror. Cris looked sideways at Hermione. She was wearing a triumphant smile.**

**"****Who are you?" said a voice.**

"I think this is going to turn out good for Cris and Hermione that is." Padfoot said.

"Yep," Prongs said.

**Cris looked left. The chestnut-bodied centaur called Magorian was walking towards them out of the circle: his bow, like those of the others, was raised. On Cris' right, Umbridge was still whimpering, her wand trembling violently as she pointed it at the advancing centaur.**

**"****I asked you who are you, human," said Magorian roughly.**

**"****I am Dolores Umbridge!" said Umbridge in a high-pitched, terrified voice. "Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic and Headmistress and High Inquisitor of Hogwarts!"**

**"****You are from the Ministry of Magic?" said Magorian, as many of the centaurs in the surrounding circle shifted restlessly.**

"This isn't going to end well for her." Bill said.

"Nope," Charlie agreed.

**"That's right!" said Umbridge, in an even higher voice, "so be very careful! By the laws laid down by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, any attack by half-breeds such as yourselves on a human -"**

"Oohh, this isn't going to pretty." Charlie said.

**"****What did you call us?" shouted a wild-looking black centaur, whom Cris recognized as Bane.**

**There was a great deal of angry muttering and tightening of bowstrings around them.**

**"****Don't call them that!" Hermione said furiously, but Umbridge did not appear to have heard her.**

**Still pointing her shaking wand at Magorian, she continued, "Law Fifteen 'B' states clearly that 'any attack by a magical creature who is deemed to have near-human intelligence,**

"Near human, they are a lot smarter than you, that's for sure." Keiran said.

**and therefore considered responsible for its actions' —"**

**"'****Near-human intelligence'?" repeated Magorian, as Bane and several others roared with rage and pawed the ground. "We consider that a great insult, human! Our intelligence, thankfully, far outstrips your own."**

**"****What are you doing in our Forest?" bellowed the hard-faced grey centaur Cris and Hermione had seen on their last trip into the Forest. "Why are you here?"**

**"****You're Forest?" said Umbridge, shaking now not only with fright but also, it seemed, with indignation. "I would remind you that you live here only because the Ministry of Magic permits you certain areas of land -"**

"They were there long before the castle became a school." Bill said.

"Really?" Gwen asked.

"It's in _Hogwarts, A History._" Hermione said.

**An arrow flew so close to her head that it caught at her mousy hair in passing: she let out an earsplitting scream and threw her hands over her head, while some of the centaurs bellowed their approval and others laughed raucously. The sound of their wild, neighing laughter echoing around the dimly lit clearing and the sight of their pawing hooves was extremely unnerving.**

**"****Whose Forest is it now, human?" bellowed Bane.**

**"****Filthy half-breeds!" she screamed, her hands still tight over her head. "Beasts! Uncontrolled animals!"**

"Now you've done it, I hope you've lived your life to the fullest because they will try and kill you know." Charlie said.

**"****Be quiet!" shouted Hermione**

"Maybe I shouldn't have tried." Hermione said.

**but it was too late: Umbridge pointed her wand at Magorian and screamed, "Incarcerous!"**

"Are you intentionally being stupid or is this really you?" Charlie asked.

"How dare you!" Umbridge shrieked. Dumbledore pulled out his wand and created a gag around her mouth.

"Please continue Miss Weasley." Dumbledore said to Victoire.

**Ropes flew out of midair like thick snakes, wrapping themselves tightly around the centaur's torso and trapping his arms: he gave a cry of rage and reared on to his hind legs, attempting to free himself, while the other centaurs charged.**

**Cris grabbed Hermione and pulled her to the ground; face down on the Forest floor, she knew a moment of terror as hooves thundered around her, but the centaurs leapt over and around them, bellowing and screaming with rage.**

"Good, at least you didn't get kicked or stepped on." Sirius said.

"Yeah, that'll ruin my day." Cris said.

"You're day is already ruined." Ron said.

"True,"

**"****Nooooo!" she heard Umbridge shriek. "Noooooo… I am Senior Undersecretary… you cannot - Unhand me, you animals… nooooo!"**

**Cris saw a flash of red light and knew she had attempted to Stun one of them;**

"Yeah, she's toast," Charlie said.

**then she screamed very loudly. Lifting her head a few inches, Cris saw that Umbridge had been seized from behind by Bane and lifted high into the air, wriggling and yelling with fright. Her wand fell from her hand to the ground, and Cris' heart leapt. If she could just reach it -**

**But as she stretched out a hand towards it, a centaur's hoof descended upon the wand and it broke cleanly in half.**

"Crap, that's not good." Kingsley said.

"We aren't that defenseless. We still have our animagus forms." Hermione said.

"That's right," Sirius said with a weird gleam in his eyes.

**"****Now!" roared a voice in Cris' ear and a thick hairy arm descended from thin air and dragged her upright. Hermione, too, had been pulled to her feet. Over the plunging, many-colored backs and heads of the centaurs, Cris saw Umbridge being borne away through the trees by Bane.**

**Screaming non-stop, her voice grew fainter and fainter until they could no longer hear it over the trampling of hooves surrounding them.**

"Bye-bye Professor Umbitch." Charlie said.

**"****And these?" said the hard-faced, grey centaur holding Hermione.**

**"****They are young," said a slow, doleful voice from behind Cris. "We do not attack foals."**

**"****They brought her here, Ronan," replied the centaur who had such a firm grip on Cris. "And they are not so young… they are nearing womanhood." **

"But Hermione's older." Ginny said.

"And Cris' shorter." Neville said.

"But we both look the same age." Hermione said.

"I think that's what they mean." Bill said.

**He shook Cris by the neck of her robes.**

**"****Please," said Hermione breathlessly, "please, don't attack us, we don't think like her, we aren't Ministry of Magic employees! We only came in here because we hoped you'd drive her off for us."**

"Next time Mione, don't say things like that, especially to centaurs." Charlie said. Hermione nodded as Victoire continued reading.

**Cris knew at once, from the look on the face of the grey centaur holding Hermione, that she had made a terrible mistake in saying this. The grey centaur threw back his head, his back legs stamping furiously, and bellowed, "You see, Ronan? They already have the arrogance of their kind! So we were to do your dirty work, were we, human girl? We were to act as your servants, drive away your enemies like obedient hounds?"**

**"****No!" said Hermione in a horrorstruck squeak. "Please - I didn't mean that! I just hoped you'd be able to - to help us -"**

**But she seemed to be going from bad to worse.**

**"****We do not help humans!" snarled the centaur holding Cris, tightening his grip and rearing a little at the same time, so that Cris' feet left the ground momentarily. "We are a race apart and proud to be so. We will not permit you to walk from here, boasting that we did your bidding!"**

"We wouldn't though." Cris said.

"They don't know that." Sirius said.

"I hope you two get out of this okay." Remus said.

"I'm sure we do." Hermione said.

**"****We're not going to say anything like that!" Cris shouted. "We know you didn't do what you did because we wanted you to -"**

**But nobody seemed to be listening to her.**

**A bearded centaur towards the back of the crowd shouted, "They came here unasked, they must pay the consequences!"**

**A roar of approval met these words and a dun-colored centaur shouted, "They can join the woman!"**

"Get out of there!" Sirius shouted.

"Siri, you're shouting at the book." Cris said. Sirius blushed and Victoire kept reading with a smile.

**"****You said you didn't hurt the innocent!" shouted Hermione, real tears sliding down her face now. "We haven't done anything to hurt you, we haven't used wands or threats, we just want to go back to school, please let us go back -"**

"I hope they let you." Bill said.

**"****We are not all like the traitor Firenze, human girl!" shouted the grey centaur, to more neighing roars of approval from his fellows. "Perhaps you thought us pretty talking horses? We are an ancient people who will not stand wizard invasions and insults! We do not recognize your laws, we do not acknowledge your superiority, we are -"**

"How do you get out of there?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"I don't know." Cris said.

**But they did not hear what else centaurs were, for at that moment there came a crashing noise on the edge of the clearing so loud that all of them, Cris, Hermione and the fifty or so centaurs filling the clearing, looked around. Cris' centaur let her fall to the ground again as his hands flew to his bow and quiver of arrows. Hermione had been dropped, too, and Cris hurried towards her as two thick tree trunks parted ominously and the monstrous form of Grawp the giant appeared in the gap.**

"Huh, a giant is good for something." Charlie said.

**The centaurs nearest her backed into those behind; the clearing was now a forest of bows and arrows waiting to be fired, all pointing upwards at the enormous greyish face now looming over them from just beneath the thick canopy of branches. Grawp's lopsided mouth was gaping stupidly; they could see his bricklike yellow teeth glimmering in the half-light, his dull sludge colored eyes narrowed as he squinted down at the creatures at his feet. Broken ropes trailed from both ankles. **

"He escaped." Mr. Weasley said.

**He opened his mouth even wider.**

**"****Hagger."**

**Cris did not know what 'hagger' meant, or what language it was from, nor did she much care; she was watching Grawp's feet, which were almost as long as Cris' whole body. Hermione gripped her arm tightly; the centaurs were quite silent, staring up at the giant, whose huge, round head moved from side to side as he continued to peer amongst them as though looking for something he had dropped.**

**"****Hagger!" he said again, more insistently.**

**"****Get away from here, giant!" called Magorian. "You are not welcome among us!"**

**These words seemed to make no impression whatsoever on Grawp. He stooped a little (the centaurs' arms tensed on their bows), then bellowed, "HAGGER!"**

"I think he's trying to say Hagrid." Charlie said.

"Ah, he said his brother's name." Lily J said.

"Ryker's first word was my name." James said.

"Was it really?" Cris asked.

"Yep, it was so cute." Scarlett said.

**A few of the centaurs looked worried now. Hermione, however, gave a gasp.**

**"****Cris!" she whispered. "I think he's trying to say 'Hagrid'!"**

**At this precise moment Grawp caught sight of them, the only two humans in a sea of centaurs. **

"I really hope he doesn't go for the two of you." Remus said.

**He lowered his head another foot or so, staring intently at them. Cris could feel Hermione shaking as Grawp opened his mouth wide again and said, in a deep, rumbling voice, "Hermy."**

"Thank you Hagrid, why couldn't he have said Mia or Mione?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know how Hagrid thinks most of the time." Cris said.

**"****Goodness," said Hermione, gripping Cris' arm so tightly it was growing numb and looking as though she was about to faint, "he - he remembered!"**

"I wonder how much he knows." Bill said.

"I guess we're about to find out." Hermione said.

**"****HERMY!" roared Grawp. "WHERE HAGGER?"**

**"I don't know!" squealed Hermione, terrified. "I'm sorry, Grawp, I don't know!"**

**"****GRAWP WANT HAGGER!"**

"Wow, I'm impressed." Gwen said.

"Giants are smarter than you give them credit for." Charlie said.

**One of the giant's massive hands reached down. Hermione let out a real scream, ran a few steps backwards and fell over.**

"Okay, that would freak anyone out." Lily J said.

"He doesn't do that?" Cris asked.

"Not anymore at least." Lily J said.

**Devoid of a wand, Cris braced herself to punch, kick, bite or whatever else it took as the hand swooped towards her and knocked a snow-white centaur off his legs.**

"So that's how you get away." Padfoot said.

**It was what the centaurs had been waiting for — Grawp's outstretched fingers were a foot from Cris when fifty arrows soared through the air at the giant, peppering his enormous face, causing him to howl with pain and rage and straighten up, rubbing his face with his enormous hands, breaking off the arrow shafts but forcing the arrowheads in still deeper.**

"Poor Grawp, that has to hurt." Charlie said.

**He yelled and stamped his enormous feet and the centaurs scattered out of the way; pebble-sized droplets of Grawp's blood showered Cris as she pulled Hermione to her feet and the pair of them ran as fast as they could for the shelter of the trees. Once there they looked back; Grawp was snatching blindly at the centaurs as blood ran down his face; they were retreating in disorder, galloping away through the trees on the other side of the clearing. Cris and Hermione watched Grawp give another roar of fury and plunge after them, smashing more trees aside as he went.**

**"****Oh no," said Hermione, quaking so badly that her knees gave way. "Oh, that was horrible. And he might kill them all."**

"I don't think he will." Bill said.

"You never know." Hermione said.

**"****I'm not that fussed, to be honest," said Cris bitterly.**

**The sounds of the galloping centaurs and the blundering giant grew fainter and fainter. As Cris listened to them, her scar gave another great throb and a wave of terror swept over her.**

**They had wasted so much time - they were even further from rescuing Sirius than they had been when she had had the vision. Not only had Cris managed to lose her wand but they were stuck in the middle of the Forbidden Forest with no means of transport whatsoever.**

"You'll find a way out." Luna said.

"We can turn into our animagus forms and get out that way." Hermione said.

"That could work." Cris said.

"I hope we get back and free the others." Hermione said.

"If we hadn't already escaped." Ginny said.

**"****Smart plan," she spat at Hermione, having to release some of her fury. "Really smart plan. Where do we go from here?"**

**"****We need to get back up to the castle," said Hermione faintly.**

**"****By the time we've done that, Sirius'll probably be dead!" said Cris, kicking a nearby tree in temper. A high-pitched chattering started up overhead and he looked up to see an angry Bowtruckle flexing its long twig like fingers at her.**

"Oops." Cris said.

**"****Well, we can't do anything without wands," said Hermione hopelessly, dragging herself up again. "Anyway, Cris, how exactly where you planning to get all the way to London?"**

"I wonder if I had a plan." Cris said.

"You probably did." Sirius said.

**"****Yeah, we were just wondering that," said a familiar voice from behind her.**

**Cris and Hermione moved together instinctively and peered through the trees.**

**Ron came into sight, closely followed by Ginny, Neville and Luna. **

"So you all got out okay." Mrs. Weasley said.

"I wonder how we did it." Ron said.

**All of them looked a little the worse for wear - there were several long scratches running the length of Ginny's cheek; a large purple lump was swelling above Neville's right eye; Ron's lip was bleeding worse than ever - but all were looking rather pleased with themselves.**

"This should be good." Bill said.

**"****So," said Ron, pushing aside a low-hanging branch and holding out Cris' wand, "had any ideas?"**

**"****How did you get away?" asked Cris in amazement, taking her wand from Ron.**

**"****Couple of Stunners, a Disarming Charm, Neville brought off a really nice little Impediment Jinx," said Ron airily, now handing back Hermione's wand, too. "But Ginny was best, she got Malfoy - Bat Bogey Hex - it was superb, his whole face was covered in the great flapping things. **

"Remind me to never piss you off." Draco said.

"As long as you don't be stupid." Ginny said. Draco nodded and Victoire continued reading.

**Anyway, we saw you out of the window heading into the Forest and followed. What've you done with Umbridge?"**

**"****She got carried away," said Cris. "By a herd of centaurs."**

**"****And they left you behind?" asked Ginny, looking astonished.**

**"****No, they got chased off by Grawp," said Cris.**

**"****Who's Grawp?" Luna asked interestedly.**

**"****Hagrid's little brother," said Ron promptly. "Anyway, never mind that now. Cris, what did you find out in the fire? Has You-Know-Who got Sirius or -?"**

**"****Yes," said Cris, as her scar gave another painful prickle, "and I'm sure Sirius is still alive, but I can't see how we're going to get there to help him."**

"Maybe you should talk to me, make sure I understood the message." Snape said.

"Would you really do that for me?" Cris asked surprised. Snape nodded but didn't say anything more.

"What just happened?" George whispered.

"I have no clue," Cris said.

**They all fell silent, looking rather scared; the problem facing them seemed insurmountable.**

**"Well, we'll have to fly, won't we?" said Luna, in the closest thing to a matter-of-fact voice Cris had ever heard her use.**

**"****Okay," said Cris irritably, rounding on her. "First of all, 'we' aren't doing anything if you're including yourself in that, and second of all, Ron's the only one with a broomstick that isn't being guarded by a security troll, so -"**

**"****I've got a broom!" said Ginny.**

"Ginevra! You will not be going with them." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Well this hasn't happened yet." Ginny said.

"She's right, dear." Mr. Weasley said.

**"****Yeah, but you're not coming," said Ron angrily.**

**"****Excuse me, but I care what happens to Sirius as much as you do!" said Ginny, her jaw set so that her resemblance to Fred and George was suddenly striking. **

"Really?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, I've noticed that as well." Bill said.

**"****You're too -" Cris began, but Ginny said fiercely, "I'm three years older than you were when you fought You-Know-Who over the Philosopher's Stone, and it's because of me that Malfoy's stuck back in Umbridge's office with giant flying bogies attacking him -"**

**"****Yeah, but -"**

**"****We were all in the D.A, together," said Neville quietly. "It was all supposed to be about fighting You-Know-Who, wasn't it? And this is the first chance we've had to do something real - or was that all just a game or something?"**

"Did I really just say that?" Neville asked.

"Yes you did Nev, I'm proud of you." Ginny said kissing his cheek.

**"****No — of course it wasn't -" said Cris impatiently.**

**"****Then we should come too," said Neville simply. "We want to help."**

**"****That's right," said Luna, smiling happily.**

**Cris' eyes met Ron's. She knew Ron was thinking exactly what she was: if she could have chosen any members of the D.A., in addition to herself, Ron and Hermione, to join her in the attempt to rescue Sirius, she would not have picked Ginny, Neville or Luna. **

The three glared at her. "I'm sorry, it hasn't happened yet." Cris said.

"And now we know why you're all here." Hermione said.

"I take it Neville, Luna and I are a big part of the next couple books?" Ginny asked.

"Yep, and that's all we're saying." Al said to his Aunt.

**"****Well, it doesn't matter, anyway," said Cris through gritted teeth, "because we still don't know how to get there -"**

**"****I thought we'd settled that," said Luna maddeningly. "We're flying!"**

"But on what?" Ginny asked.

"Thestrals." Luna said.

"Are you serious?" Neville asked.

"No, I am." Sirius and Padfoot said. Sirius and Padfoot were both slapped upside the head.

**"****Look," said Ron, barely containing his anger, "you might be able to fly without a broomstick**

"I can't," Luna said.

"I'm sorry," Ron said.

"It's fine, it hasn't happened yet." Luna said.

**but the rest of us can't sprout wings whenever we -"**

**"****There are ways of flying other than with broomsticks," said Luna serenely.**

**"****I s'pose we're going to ride on the back of the Kacky Snorgle or whatever it is?" Ron demanded.**

"Ronald!" Mrs. Weasley screeched.

"I haven't done it yet." Ron said.

**"****The Crumple-Horned Snorkack can't fly," said Luna in a dignified voice, "but they can, and Hagrid says they're very good at finding places their riders are looking for."**

"Wait, are Thestrals walking up on us now?" Cris asked.

"Probably." Luna said.

**Cris whirled round. Standing between two trees, their white eyes gleaming eerily, were two Thestrals, watching the whispered conversation as though they understood every word.**

**"****Yes!" she whispered, moving towards them. They tossed their reptilian heads, throwing back long black manes, and Cris stretched out her hand eagerly and patted the nearest one's shining neck; how could she ever have thought them ugly?**

"They're just misunderstood." Luna said.

"Many creatures are." Amelia said.

**"****Is it those mad horse things?" said Ron uncertainly, staring at a point slightly to the left of the Thestral Cris was patting. "Those ones you can't see unless you've watched someone snuff it?"**

**"****Yeah," said Cris.**

**"****How many?"**

**"****Just two."**

**"****Well, we need three," said Hermione, who was still looking a little shaken, but determined just the same.**

**"****Four, Hermione," said Ginny, scowling.**

"Good grief, none of you can count." Neville said.

"There are six of us." Luna said.

**"****I think there are six of us, actually," said Luna calmly, counting.**

**"****Don't be stupid, we can't all go!" said Cris angrily. "Look, you three -" she pointed at Neville, Ginny and Luna, "you're not involved in this, you're not -"**

"We are now whether you like it or not." Ginny said.

**They burst into more protests. Her scar gave another, more painful, twinge. Every moment they delayed was precious; she did not have time to argue.**

**"****Okay, fine, it's your choice," she said curtly, "but unless we can find more Thestrals you're not going to be able -"**

**"Oh, more of them will come," said Ginny confidently, who like Ron was squinting in quite the wrong direction, apparently under the impression that she was looking at the horses.**

Ginny blushed at that and Neville gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

**"****What makes you think that?"**

**"****Because, in case you hadn't noticed, you and Hermione are both covered in blood," she said coolly, "and we know Hagrid lures Thestrals with raw meat. That's probably why these two turned up in the first place."**

**Cris felt a soft tug on her robes at that moment and looked down to see the closest Thestral licking her sleeve, which was damp with Grawp's blood.**

**"****Okay, then," she said, a bright idea occurring, "Ron and I will take these two and go ahead, and Hermione can stay here with you three and she'll attract more Thestrals -" **

"I don't think that'll work out very well." Cris said.

"Nope, we will leave together." Hermione said.

**"****I'm not staying behind!" said Hermione furiously.**

**"****There's no need," said Luna, smiling. "Look, here come more now… you two must really smell…"**

**Cris turned: no fewer than six or seven Thestrals were picking their way through the trees, their great leathery wings folded tight to their bodies, their eyes gleaming through the darkness. She had no excuse now.**

"I don't think you ever had one." Hermione said.

**"****All right," she said angrily, "pick one and get on, then."**

"That's the chapter." Victoire said handing the book to her grandmother.

"I think you forgot something Cris." Hermione said.

"What is that?" Cris asked.

"We can't see them." Ginny said pointing to herself, Hermione and Ron.

"You, Nev and Luna will have to help us get on them." Ron said.

"Right," Cris said. Mrs. Weasley then started the chapter.


	38. Chapter 34: The Department of Mysteries

"**Chapter 34: The Department of Mysteries," **Mrs. Weasley read.

"You mean, six students snuck into the Ministry without being caught?" Fudge asked.

"I'm impressed." Percy said.

"Really?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, remember in the beginning of the book the security measures they have in place?" Percy asked.

"Yeah, wow, I wonder if we do get caught." Ginny said.

"I don't' think we will." Cris said.

"You think so?" Neville asked.

"Yep," Cris said and left it at that so Mrs. Weasley could start the chapter.

**Cris wound her hand tightly into the mane of the nearest Thestral, placed a foot on a stump nearby and scrambled clumsily on to the horses silken back. It did not object, but twisted its head around, fangs bared, and attempted to continue its eager licking of her robes.**

**She found there was a way of lodging her knees behind the wing joints that made her feel more secure, **

"I think you should probably help the other three on first before you get on." Remus said.

"Yeah, I probably should." Cris said.

**then looked around at the others. Neville had heaved himself over the back of the next Thestral and was now attempting to swing one short leg over the creature's back. Luna was already in place, sitting side-saddle and adjusting her robes as though she did this every day.**

**Ron, Hermione and Ginny, however, were still standing motionless on the spot, open-mouthed and staring.**

"Yeah, we might need help actually getting on." Ginny said.

"I think we forgot that you can't see them." Neville said.

"I hope it stays that way." Mrs. Weasley said.

**"****What?" she said.**

**"****How're we supposed to get on?" said Ron faintly. "When we can't see the things?"**

**"****Oh, it's easy," said Luna, sliding obligingly from her Thestral and marching over to him, Hermione and Ginny. "Come here…"**

**She pulled them over to the other Thestrals standing around and one by one managed to help them on to the back of their mount. All three looked extremely nervous as she wound their hands into their horses mane and told them to grip tightly before she got back on to her own steed.**

**"****This is mad," Ron murmured, moving his free hand gingerly up and down his horse's neck. "Mad… if I could just see it -"**

**"****You'd better hope it stays invisible," said Cris darkly.**

"I hope so too." Ron said.

"You all can see them." Keiran said.

"How?" Hermione asked.

"In the war, you six were a big part of it." Teddy said. The three who couldn't see them nodded and Mrs. Weasley kept reading feeling very apprehensive.

**"We all ready, then?"**

**They all nodded and he saw five pairs of knees tighten beneath their robes.**

**"****Okay…"**

**She looked down at the back of her Thestral's glossy black head and swallowed.**

**"****Ministry of Magic, visitors' entrance, London, then," she said uncertainly. "Er… if you know… where to go…"**

"They'll know." Charlie said.

**For a moment Cris' Thestral did nothing at all; then, with a sweeping movement that nearly unseated her, the wings on either side extended; the horse crouched slowly, then rocketed upwards so fast and so steeply that Cris had to clench her arms and legs tightly around the horse to avoid sliding backwards over its bony rump. She closed her eyes and pressed her face down into the horse's silky mane as they burst through the topmost branches of the trees and soared out into a blood-red sunset.**

**Cris did not think she had ever moved so fast: the Thestral streaked over the castle, its wide wings hardly beating; the cooling air was slapping Cris' face; eyes screwed up against the rushing wind, she looked round and saw her five fellows soaring along behind her, each of them bent as low as possible into the neck of their Thestral to protect themselves from her slipstream.**

**They were over the Hogwarts grounds, they had passed Hogsmeade; Cris could see mountains and gullies below them. As the daylight began to fail, Cris saw small collections of lights as they passed over more villages, then a winding road on which a single car was beetling its way home through the hills…**

**"****This is bizarre!" Cris barely heard Ron yell from somewhere behind her, and she imagined how it must feel to be speeding along at this height with no visible means of support.**

"I hope no one saw you." Tonks said.

"There weren't any reports, according to mum and Aunt Hermione anyway." Lily J said.

"That's good." Kingsley said.

**Twilight fell: the sky was turning to a light, dusky purple littered with tiny silver stars, and soon only the lights of Muggle towns gave them any clue of how far from the ground they were, or how very fast they were traveling. Cris' arms were wrapped tightly around her horse's neck as she willed it to go even faster. How much time had elapsed since she had seen Sirius lying on the Department of Mysteries floor? How much longer would Sinus be able to resist Voldemort? All Cris knew for sure was that her godfather had neither done as Voldemort wanted, nor died, for she was convinced that either outcome would have caused her to feel Voldemort's jubilation or fury course through her own body, making her scar sear as painfully as it had on the night Mr. Weasley was attacked.**

**On they flew through the gathering darkness; Cris' face felt stiff and cold, her legs numb from gripping the Thestrals sides so tightly, but she did not dare shift her position lest she slip… she was deaf from the thundering rush of air in her ears, and her mouth was dry and frozen from the cold night wind. She had lost all sense of how far they had come; all her faith was in the beast beneath her, still streaking purposefully through the night, barely flapping its wings as it sped ever onwards.**

**If they were too late…**

**He's still alive, he's still fighting, I can feel it…**

**If Voldemort decided Sirius was not going to crack…**

"I would never crack, I'd die rather than give that lunatic information." Sirius said.

"That's what you said the night we met." Cris said with a smile.

"Yeah, it was." Sirius said smiling back at her.

**I'd know…**

**Cris' stomach gave a jolt; the Thestrals head was suddenly pointing towards the ground and she actually slid forwards a few inches along its neck. They were descending at last… she thought she heard a shriek behind her and twisted around dangerously, but could see no sign of a falling body… presumably they had all received a shock from the change of direction, just as she had.**

"That might have been me." Hermione said.

"Probably was, we're all used to flying but you aren't." Ron said.

"I know," Hermione said.

**And now bright orange lights were growing larger and rounder on all sides; they could see the tops of buildings, streams of headlights like luminous insect eyes, squares of pale yellow that were windows. Quite suddenly, it seemed, they were hurtling towards the pavement; Cris gripped the Thestral with every last ounce of her strength, braced for a sudden impact, but the horse touched the dark ground as lightly as a shadow and Cris slid from its back, looking around at the street where the overflowing skip still stood a short way from the vandalized telephone box, both drained of color in the flat orange glare of the streetlights.**

**Ron landed a short way off and toppled immediately from his Thestral on to the pavement.**

"I doubt any of us were very graceful getting off them, other than Luna maybe." Ginny said.

"Probably, I can be graceful, but I don't think this is one of those times." Cris said.

"How graceful are you?" Lily asked.

"I'll show you later." Cris said with a smile.

**"****Never again," he said, struggling to his feet. He made as though to stride away from his Thestral, but, unable to see it, collided with its hindquarters and almost fell over again. "Never, ever again… that was the worst -"**

"You'll be eating your words Uncle Ron." Al said.

"You mean I have to ride one again?" Ron asked.

"Why? When?" Hermione asked.

"Just before your seventh year and that is all that I am saying." James said.

**Hermione and Ginny touched down on either side of him: both slid off their mounts a little more gracefully than Ron, though with similar expressions of relief at being back on firm ground; Neville jumped down, shaking; and Luna dismounted smoothly.**

**"Where do we go from here, then?" she asked Cris in a politely interested voice, as though this was all a rather interesting day-trip.**

"That's Luna for you." Ginny said with a smile. Luna smiled back at her as Mrs. Weasley kept reading.

**"****Over here," she said. She gave her Thestral a quick, grateful pat, then led the way quickly to the battered telephone box and opened the door. "Come on!" she urged the others, as they hesitated.**

**Ron and Ginny marched in obediently; Hermione, Neville and Luna squashed themselves in after them; Cris took one glance back at the Thestrals, now foraging for scraps of rotten food inside the skip, then forced herself into the box after Luna.**

"How in the world did we all fit?" Hermione asked.

"It has extension charms on it. Tonks said.

"Oh,"

**"****Whoever's nearest the receiver, dial six two four four two!" she said.**

**Ron did it, his arm bent bizarrely to reach the dial; as it whirred back into place the cool female voice sounded inside the box.**

**"****Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."**

**"****Cris Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger," Cris said very quickly, "Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood… we're here to save someone, unless your Ministry can do it first!"**

"That I doubt." Sirius said.

**"****Thank you," said the cool female voice. "Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes."**

**Half a dozen badges slid out of the metal chute where returned coins normally appeared. Hermione scooped them up and handed them mutely to Cris over Ginny's head; she glanced at the topmost one, **_**Cris Potter, Rescue Mission.**_

"Is it really that easy?" Gwen asked.

"I guess it was." Cris said.

"You should really have more security." Hermione said.

"Yeah, if six kids can get in with no problem at all, just think about what Death Eaters and Voldemort can do." Draco said.

"When this is over we are redoing the security." Fudge said.

**"****Visitors to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wands for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."**

**"****Fine!" Cris said loudly, as her scar gave another throb. "Now can we move?"**

**The floor of the telephone box shuddered and the pavement rose up past its glass windows; the scavenging Thestrals were sliding out of sight; blackness closed over their heads and with a dull grinding noise they sank down into the depths of the Ministry of Magic.**

**A chink of soft golden light hit their feet and, widening, rose up their bodies. Cris bent her knees and held her wand as ready as she could in such cramped conditions as she peered through the glass to see whether anybody was waiting for them in the Atrium, but it seemed to be completely empty. **

"That's not right." Tonks said.

"There should be a night guard." Kingsley said.

"Something isn't right." Mr. Weasley said.

**The light was dimmer than it had been by day; there were no fires burning under the mantelpieces set into the walls, but as the lift slid smoothly to a halt he saw that golden symbols continued to twist sinuously in the dark blue ceiling.**

**"****The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant evening," said the woman's voice.**

"Somehow I don't think it'll be pleasant." Robin said.

"I have the same feeling." Alice said.

**The door of the telephone box burst open; Cris toppled out of it, closely followed by Neville and Luna. The only sound in the Atrium was the steady rush of water from the golden fountain, where jets from the wands of the witch and wizard, the point of the centaur's arrow, the tip of the goblin's hat and the house-elf's ears continued to gush into the surrounding pool.**

"When does that statue disappear?" Hermione asked.

"The one after this one isn't much better." Keiran said.

"In fact, I think it's worse." Teddy said.

"I don't want to hear about it." Tonks said.

**"****Come on," said Cris quietly and the six of them sprinted off down the hall, Cris in the lead, past the fountain towards the desk where the security man who had weighed Cris' wand had sat, and which was now deserted.**

"There really should be someone on guard, I don't like where this is going." Mr. Weasley said.

**Cris felt sure there ought to be a security person there, sure that their absence was an ominous sign, and her feeling of foreboding increased as they passed through the golden gates to the lifts. She pressed the nearest 'down' button and a lift clattered into sight almost immediately, the golden grilles slid apart with a great, echoing clanking and they dashed inside. Cris stabbed the number nine button; the grilles closed with a bang and the lift began to descend, jangling and rattling. Cris had not realized how noisy the lifts were on the day she had come with Mr. Weasley; she was sure the din would raise every security person within the building, yet when the lift halted, the cool female voice said, "Department of Mysteries," and the grilles slid open. They stepped out into the corridor where nothing was moving but the nearest torches, flickering in the rush of air from the lift.**

**Cris turned towards the plain black door. After months and months of dreaming about it, she was here at last.**

**"****Let's go," she whispered, and she led the way down the corridor, Luna right behind her, gazing around with her mouth slightly open.**

**"****Okay, listen," said Cris stopping again within six feet of the door. "Maybe… maybe a couple of people should stay here as a — as a lookout, and —"**

"No, I think you should stay together." Bill said.

"It would definitely be safer that way." Charlie said.

**"****And how're we going to let you know something's coming?" asked Ginny, her eyebrows raised.**

**"****You could be miles away."**

"Yeah, not all of you can use a patronus yet." Remus said.

"How can a patronus help?" Cris asked.

"They can be used to send messages." Remus said.

"That is so cool." Gwen said.

**"****We're coming with you, Cris," said Neville.**

**Cris still did not want to take them all with her, but it seemed she had no choice.**

"I bet I'm glad you guys came with me." Cris said.

"You were," James said.

**She turned to face the door and walked forwards… just as it had in her dream, it swung open and she marched over the threshold, the others at her heels.**

**They were standing in a large, circular room. Everything in here was black including the floor and ceiling; identical, unmarked, handle less black doors were set at intervals all around the black walls, interspersed with branches of candles whose flames burned blue; their cool, shimmering light reflected in the shining marble floor made it look as though there was dark water underfoot.**

**"****Someone shut the door," Cris muttered.**

"No don't shut it, leave it partially open so you can find a way out again." Sirius said.

"But couldn't the Death Eater's follow us easier?" Cris asked.

"Yes, but you could always escape faster." Sirius said.

**She regretted giving this order the moment Neville had obeyed it. Without the long chink of light from the torch lit corridor behind them, the place became so dark that for a moment the only things they could see were the bunches of shivering blue flames on the walls and their ghostly reflections in the floor.**

**In her dream, Cris had always walked purposefully across this room to the door immediately opposite the entrance and walked on. But there were around a dozen doors here. Just as she was gazing ahead at the doors opposite her, trying to decide which was the right one, there was a great rumbling noise and the candles began to move sideways. The circular wall was rotating.**

"Dang, we're never going to figure that out." Ron said.

"I'm sure we'll find a way to figure it out." Hermione said.

**Hermione grabbed Cris' arm**

"Why not mine?" Ron asked.

"I don't know, maybe she was closer than you." Hermione said.

**as though frightened the floor might move, too, but it did not.**

**For a few seconds, the blue flames around them were blurred to resemble neon lines as the wall sped around; then, quite as suddenly as it had started, the rumbling stopped and everything became stationary once again.**

**Cris' eyes had blue streaks burned into them; it was all she could see.**

"That doesn't sound like fun." Ron said.

**"****What was that about?" whispered Ron fearfully.**

**"****I think it was to stop us knowing which door we came in through," said Ginny in a hushed voice.**

"Now we're stuck." Ginny said.

"We shouldn't have closed the door." Neville said.

"No, we shouldn't have." Cris agreed.

**Cris realized at once she was right: she could no sooner identify the exit door than locate an ant on the jet-black floor; and the door through which they needed to proceed could be any one of the dozen surrounding them.**

"Okay, start just randomly picking doors." Gwen said.

"There really isn't much choice." Cris said.

**"****How're we going to get back out?" said Neville uncomfortably.**

**"****Well, that doesn't matter now," said Cris forcefully, blinking to try to erase the blue lines from her vision, and clutching her wand tighter than ever, "we won't need to get out till we've found Sirius -"**

**"****Don't go calling for him, though!" Hermione said urgently; but Cris had never needed her advice less, her instinct was to keep as quiet as possible.**

"Good instinct." Moody said nodding in approval.

**"****Where do we go, then, Cris?" Ron asked.**

**"****I don't -" Cris began. She swallowed. "In the dreams I went through the door at the end of the corridor from the lifts into a dark room - that's this one - and then I went through another door into a room that kind of… glitters. We should try a few doors," she said hastily, "I'll know the right way when I see it. C'mon."**

**She marched straight at the door now facing her, the others following close behind her, set her left hand against its cool, shining surface, raised her wand ready to strike the moment it opened, and pushed.**

**It swung open easily.**

**After the darkness of the first room, the lamps hanging low on golden chains from this ceiling gave the impression that this long rectangular room was much brighter, though there were no glittering, shimmering lights as Cris had seen in her dreams.**

"Strike One," Gwen said.

**The place was quite empty except for a few desks and, in the very middle of the room, an enormous glass tank of deep green liquid, big enough for all of them to swim in; a number of pearly-white objects were drifting around lazily in it.**

**"****What're those things?" whispered Ron.**

**"****Dunno," said Cris.**

**"****Are they fish?" breathed Ginny.**

**"****Aquavirius Maggots!" said Luna excitedly. "Dad said the Ministry were breeding —"**

"Somehow I don't think that is what they are Luna, sorry." Draco said. Luna just shrugged as Mrs. Weasley kept reading.

**"****No," said Hermione. She sounded odd. She moved forward to look through the side of the tank.**

**"****They're brains."**

"What?" Gwen asked.

"That sounds really weird." Cris said.

**"****Brains?"**

**"****Yes… I wonder what they're doing with them?"**

"I don't want to know." Cris said.

"Me neither." Lily said.

**Cris joined her at the tank. Sure enough, there could be no mistake now she saw them at close quarters. Glimmering eerily, they drifted in and out of sight in the depths of the green liquid, looking something like slimy cauliflowers.**

"Thanks mum, I don't think I can eat cauliflower again." Al said.

"Me neither," said the rest of the teens.

**"****Let's get out of here," said Cris. "This isn't right; we need to try another door."**

**"There are doors here, too," said Ron, pointing around the walls. Cris' heart sank; how big was this place?**

"It's huge." Tonks said.

"Great, we're going to be in there forever." Cris said dropping her head back to look up at the ceiling.

**"****In my dream I went through that dark room into the second one," she said. "I think we should go back and try from there."**

**So they hurried back into the dark, circular room; the ghostly shapes of the brains were now swimming before Cris' eyes instead of the blue candle flames.**

**"****Wait!" said Hermione sharply, as Luna made to close the door of the brain room behind them.**

**"****Flagrate!"**

**She drew with her wand in midair and a fiery 'X' appeared on the door.**

"I hope that works." Remus said.

"It should," Robin said.

**No sooner had the door clicked shut behind them than there was a great rumbling, and once again the wall began to revolve very fast, but now there was a great red-gold blur in amongst the faint blue and, when all became still again, the fiery cross still burned, showing the door they had already tried.**

**"****Good thinking," said Cris. "Okay, let's try this one -"**

**Again, she strode directly at the door facing her and pushed it open, her wand still raised, the others at her heels.**

**This room was larger than the last, dimly lit and rectangular, and the center of it was sunken, forming a great stone pit some twenty feet deep. They were standing on the topmost tier of what seemed to be stone benches running all around the room and descending in steep steps like an amphitheater, or the courtroom in which Cris had been tried by the Wizengamot. Instead of a chained chair, however, there was a raised stone dais in the center of the pit, on which stood a stone archway that looked so ancient, cracked and crumbling that Cris was amazed the thing was still standing. Unsupported by any surrounding wall, the archway was hung with a tattered black curtain or veil which, despite the complete stillness of the cold surrounding air, was fluttering very slightly as though it had just been touched.**

"The Veil of Death." Dumbledore said quietly.

"What?" Remus asked.

"Don't go near that, any of you. It causes instant death but doesn't leave a body." Dumbledore said.

"What a horrible way to die." Gwen said. The future kids looked at each other, one of the Order died protecting both Sirius and Cris but they never said who.

**"****Who's there?" said Cris, jumping down on to the bench below. There was no answering voice, but the veil continued to flutter and sway.**

**"****Careful!" whispered Hermione.**

**Cris scrambled down the benches one by one until she reached the stone bottom of the sunken pit. Her footsteps echoed loudly as she walked slowly towards the dais. The pointed archway looked much taller from where she now stood than it had when she'd been looking down on it from above. Still the veil swayed gently, as though somebody had just passed through it.**

"Don't go in there Cris," Sirius said.

"I didn't, my kids are proof of that." Cris said pointing to her three kids in the room.

**"****Sirius?" Cris spoke again, but more quietly now that she was nearer.**

**She had the strangest feeling that there was someone standing right behind the veil on the other side of the archway. Gripping her wand very tightly, she edged around the dais, but there was nobody there; all that could be seen was the other side of the tattered black veil.**

**"Let's go," called Hermione from halfway up the stone steps. "This isn't right, Cris, come on, let's go."**

**She sounded scared, much more scared than she had in the room where the brains swam, yet Cris thought the archway had a kind of beauty about it, old though it was. **

"It does seem really pretty." Cris said.

"Like most old buildings." Lily said.

**The gently rippling veil intrigued her; she felt a very strong inclination to climb up on the dais and walk through it.**

"CRISTAL ROSE, you better not walk through that veil!" Lily shouted.

"I don't, and it hasn't happened yet." Cris said.

"Right," Lily said blushing slightly.

**"****Cris, let's go, okay?" said Hermione more forcefully.**

**"****Okay," she said, but did not move. She had just heard something. There were faint whispering, murmuring noises coming from the other side of the veil.**

**"****What are you saying?" she said, very loudly, so that her words echoed all around the stone benches.**

**"****Nobody's talking, Cris!" said Hermione, now moving over to her.**

"This must be so confusing." Hermione said.

"I wonder if anyone else can hear anything." Cris said.

"We'll find out." Ginny said.

**"****Someone's whispering behind there," she said, moving out of her reach and continuing to frown at the veil. "Is that you, Ron?"**

**"****I'm here, mate," said Ron, appearing around the side of the archway.**

**"****Can't anyone else hear it?" Cris demanded, for the whispering and murmuring was becoming louder; without really meaning to put it there, she found her foot was on the dais.**

"Get out of there!" Mrs. Weasley begged.

**"****I can hear them too," breathed Luna, joining them around the side of the archway and gazing at the swaying veil. "There are people in there!"**

"Okay, maybe it has to do with the same thing as with the Thestrals." Prongs said.

"Then shouldn't I be able to hear them too?" Neville asked.

"Yeah, then I have no idea." Prongs said.

"It was a good theory, mate." Padfoot said.

**"****What do you mean, 'in there'?" demanded Hermione, jumping down from the bottom step and sounding much angrier than the occasion warranted, "there isn't any 'in there', it's just an archway, there's no room for anybody to be there. Cris, stop it, come away -"**

**She grabbed her arm and pulled, but she resisted.**

**"****Cris, we are supposed to be here for Sirius!" she said in a high-pitched, strained voice.**

**"****Sirius," Cris repeated, still gazing, mesmerized, at the continuously swaying veil. "Yeah…"**

**Something finally slid back into place in her brain; Sirius, captured, bound and tortured, and she was staring at this archway… **

"It's like the Mirror." Moony said.

"What Mirror?" Fudge asked.

"In my first year during the Christmas holiday I came across the Mirror of Erised, it shows you what you most desire, I continued to go to it for three days until Dumbledore found the last night and explained what it was." Cris said.

"That does sound dangerous." Amelia said.

"People have died in front of that mirror." Dumbledore said.

"Please get them out of there." Lily said. The group that went to the Ministry nodded and Mrs. Weasley kept reading.

**She took several paces back from the dais and wrenched her eyes from the veil. **

**"****Let's go," she said.**

**"****That's what I've been trying to - well, come on, then!" said Hermione, and she led the way back around the dais. On the other side, Ginny and Neville were staring, apparently entranced, at the veil too.**

"We can hear it too?" Neville asked.

"It seems so." Remus said.

**Without speaking, Hermione took hold of Ginny's arm, Ron grabbed Neville's, and they marched them firmly back to the lowest stone bench and clambered all the way back up to the door.**

**"What d'you reckon that arch was?" Cris asked Hermione as they regained the dark circular room.**

**"****I don't know, but whatever it was, it was dangerous," she said firmly, again inscribing a fiery cross on the door.**

"Beyond dangerous." Robin said.

**Once more, the wall span and became still again. Cris approached another door at random and pushed. It did not move.**

"It's locked?" Tonks asked.

"It seems so." Kingsley said.

**"****What's wrong?" said Hermione.**

**"****It's… locked…" said Cris, throwing her weight at the door, but it didn't budge.**

"I wonder what's beyond that door." Lily said.

"We might find out if they get it open." Prongs said.

**"****This is it, then, isn't it?" said Ron excitedly, joining Cris in the attempt to force the door open.**

**"****Bound to be!"**

**"****Get out of the way!" said Hermione sharply. She pointed her wand at the place where a lock would have been on an ordinary door and said, "Alohomora!"**

"Somehow, I don't think that'll work." Mr. Weasley said.

"Well, then it's worth a try." Hermione said.

**Nothing happened.**

**"****Sirius's knife!" said Cris. She pulled it out from inside her robes and slid it into the crack between the door and the wall. The others all watched eagerly as she ran it from top to bottom, withdrew it and then flung her shoulder again at the door. It remained as firmly shut as ever.**

**What was more, when Cris looked down at the knife, she saw the blade had melted.**

"What can do that to the knife?" Sirius asked wide-eyed.

"It's supposed to be indestructible." Padfoot said.

**"****Right, we're leaving that room," said Hermione decisively.**

**"****But what if that's the one?" said Ron, staring at it with a mixture of apprehension and longing.**

**"****It can't be, Cris could get through all the doors in her dream," said Hermione, marking the door with another fiery cross as Cris replaced the now-useless handle of Sirius's knife in her pocket.**

"You still have it, you never threw it away." Lily J said.

"It worthless though, why wouldn't I throw it away?" Cris asked.

"I don't know." James said.

**"****You know what could be in there?" said Luna eagerly, as the wall started to spin yet again.**

**"****Something blibbering, no doubt," said Hermione under her breath and Neville gave a nervous little laugh. **

**The wall slid to a halt and Cris, with a feeling of increasing desperation, pushed the next door open.**

**"****This is it!"**

**She knew it at once by the beautiful, dancing, diamond-sparkling light. As Cris' eyes became accustomed to the brilliant glare, she saw clocks gleaming from every surface, large and small, grandfather and carriage, hanging in spaces between the bookcases or standing on desks ranging the length of the room, so that a busy, relentless ticking filled the place like thousands of minuscule, marching footsteps. The source of the dancing, diamond-bright light was a towering crystal ball jar that stood at the far end of the room.**

**"****This way!"**

**Cris' heart was pumping frantically now that she knew they were on the right track; she led the way down the narrow space between the lines of desks, heading, as she had done in her dream, for the source of the light, the crystal bell jar quite as tall as she was that stood on a desk and appeared to be full of a billowing, glittering wind.**

**"****Oh, look!" said Ginny, as they drew nearer, pointing at the very heart of the bell jar.**

**Drifting along in the sparkling current inside was a tiny, jewel-bright egg. As it rose in the jar, it cracked open and a hummingbird emerged, which was carried to the very top of the jar, but as it fell on the draught its feathers became bedraggled and damp again, and by the time it had been borne back to the bottom of the jar it had been enclosed once more in its egg.**

"What in the world?" Lily asked.

"I think it's Father Time." Remus said.

"How can that be Father Time though?" Gwen asked.

**"****Keep going!" said Cris sharply, because Ginny showed signs of wanting to stop and watch the egg's progress back into a bird.**

**"****You dawdled enough by that old arch!" she said crossly, but followed her past the bell jar to the only door behind it.**

**"****This is it," Cris said again, and her heart was now pumping so hard and fast she felt it must interfere with her speech, "it's through here -"**

**She glanced around at them all; they had their wands out and looked suddenly serious and anxious. She looked back at the door and pushed. It swung open.**

The group without knowing it sat forward in their seats towards the book listening.

**They were there, they had found the place: high as a church and full of nothing but towering shelves covered in small, dusty, glass orbs.**

"Where are we?" Ginny asked.

"The Prophecy room." Tonks said.

"Like what Trelawney did?" Gwen asked.

"Exactly, they are recorded and sent to the Ministry." Mr. Weasley said.

"What does Voldemort want with a Prophecy?" Cris asked. Remus and Sirius opened their mouths to speak but Dumbledore cut them off.

"She will find out in a little while let us finish the book." Dumbledore said. Sirius grumbled but didn't say anything as Mrs. Weasley continued reading.

**They glimmered dully in the light issuing from more candle-brackets set at intervals along the shelves. Like those in the circular room behind them, their flames were burning blue. The room was very cold.**

**Cris edged forward and peered down one of the shadowy aisles between two rows of shelves.**

**She could not hear anything or see the slightest sign of movement.**

"You really need to get out of there; this is most definitely a trap." Sirius said.

**"****You said it was row ninety-seven," whispered Hermione.**

**"****Yeah," breathed Cris, looking up at the end of the closest row. Beneath the branch of blue glowing candles protruding from it glimmered the silver figure fifty-three.**

**"****We need to go right, I think," whispered Hermione, squinting to the next row. "Yes… that's fifty-four…"**

**"****Keep your wands ready," Cris said softly.**

"Good, never let your guard down." Moody said.

**They crept forward, glancing behind them as they went on down the long alleys of shelves, the further ends of which were in near-total darkness. Tiny, yellowing labels had been stuck beneath each glass orb on the shelves. Some of them had a weird, liquid glow; others were as dull and dark within as blown light bulbs.**

"Why are the different colors?" Charlie asked.

"I think it may have to do with how old they are." Tonks said.

**They passed row eighty-four… eighty-five… Cris was listening hard for the slightest sound of movement, but Sirius might be gagged now, or else unconscious… or, said an unbidden voice inside her head, he might already be dead…**

_**I'd have felt it, s**_**he told herself, her heart now hammering against her chest, **_**I'd already know…**_

**"****Ninety-seven!" whispered Hermione.**

**They stood grouped around the end of the row, gazing down the alley beside it. There was nobody there**

"Just get out of there." Lily said pleaded.

**"****He's right down at the end," said Cris, whose mouth had become slightly dry. "You can't see properly from here."**

**And she led them between the towering rows of glass balls, some of which glowed softly as they passed…**

**"****He should be near here," whispered Cris, convinced that every step was going to bring the ragged form of Sirius into view on the darkened floor. "Anywhere here… really close…"**

**"****Cris?" said Hermione tentatively, but she did not want to respond. Her mouth was very dry.**

**"****Somewhere about… here…" she said.**

**They had reached the end of the row and emerged into more dim candlelight. There was nobody there. All was echoing, dusty silence.**

"It's a trap." Remus said.

"I'm so sorry for leading us into this mess." Cris said.

"It's not your fault; it's nobody's but Voldemort's." Hermione said.

"Yeah Bolt, whatever happens it's not your fault." Ron said. Cris nodded and burrowed deeper into Fred and George's embrace.

**"****He might be…" Cris whispered hoarsely, peering down the next alley. "Or maybe…" She hurried to look down the one beyond that.**

**"****Cris?" said Hermione again.**

**"****What?" she snarled.**

**"****I… I don't think Sirius is here."**

"This time it won't happen Cris, everything will change for the better." Sirius said. Cris nodded and smiled after reading all these books everything will change.

**Nobody spoke. Cris did not want to look at any of them. She felt sick. She did not understand why Sirius was not here. He had to be here. This was where she, Cris, had seen him…**

**She ran up the space at the end of the rows, staring down them. Empty aisle after empty aisle flickered past. She ran the other way, back past her staring companions. There was no sign of Sirius anywhere, nor any hint of a struggle.**

"Just get out of there while you still can." Mrs. Weasley begged.

**"****Cris?" Ron called.**

**"****What?"**

**She did not want to hear what Ron had to say; did not want to hear Ron tell her she had been stupid or suggest that they ought to go back to Hogwarts, but the heat was rising in her face and she felt as though she would like to skulk down here in the darkness for a long while before facing the brightness of the Atrium above and the others' accusing stares…**

"We wouldn't do that to you." Hermione said.

"It sounds like you honestly believed it to be true." Ginny said.

"We wouldn't fault you for that." Neville said. Ron and Luna nodded in agreement and Cris smiled at them.

**"****Have you seen this?" said Ron.**

**"****What?" said Cris, but eagerly this time - it had to be a sign that Sirius had been there, a clue.**

**She strode back to where they were all standing, a little way down row ninety-seven, but found nothing except Ron staring at one of the dusty glass spheres on the shelf.**

**"****What?" Cris repeated glumly.**

**"****It's — it's got your name on," said Ron.**

"What?" Cris asked wide-eyed.

"Why does my daughter have her name on a prophecy?" Prongs asked.

"All will be explained, I'm sure." Dumbledore said.

**Cris moved a little closer. Ron was pointing at one of the small glass spheres that glowed with a dull inner light, though it was very dusty and appeared not to have been touched for many years.**

"It wouldn't since it was made." Dumbledore said.

"When was it made?" Cris asked.

"About fifteen years ago." Dumbledore said.

"The year I was born." Cris mumbled.

**"****My name?" said Cris blankly.**

**She stepped forwards. Not as tall as Ron, she had to crane her neck to read the yellowish label affixed to the shelf right beneath the dusty glass ball. In spidery writing was written a date of some sixteen years previously, and below that:**

_**S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D.**_

_**Dark Lord and (?)Cristal Potter**_

"There's a question mark in front of Cris' name." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Why is there a question mark?" Ginny asked.

"Sometimes with Prophecies it could mean more than one person." Dumbledore said.

"It was made to you Albus; do you know what it says?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"That I do." Dumbledore said.

"Is this why James and Lily and Frank and Alice had to go in hiding for?" Robin asked.

"We had to go into hiding?" Alice asked.

"Yes," Dumbledore said.

**Cris stared at it.**

**"What is it?" Ron asked, sounding unnerved. "What's your name doing down here?"**

"It is a little unnerving." Cris said with a smile towards her best friend.

**She glanced along at the other labels on that stretch of shelf.**

**"****I'm not here," she said, sounding perplexed. "None of the rest of us are here."**

"No one else has had a prophecy made about them." Dumbledore said.

"Oh goodie," Cris said sarcastically.

**"****Cris, I don't think you should touch it," said Hermione sharply, as she stretched out her hand.**

"Why not?" Cris asked.

"Well it could be dangerous." Hermione said.

"Only her and Voldemort can touch it. So I'd rather her leave it, because Voldemort wouldn't pick it up himself." Remus said.

**"****Why not?" she said. "It's something to do with me, isn't it?"**

**"****Don't, Cris," said Neville suddenly. Cris looked at him. Neville's round face was shining slightly with sweat. He looked as though he could not take much more suspense.**

"Well it has been a very suspenseful day." Neville said.

"That it has." Cris said.

**"****It's got my name on," said Cris.**

**And feeling slightly reckless, she closed her fingers around the dusty ball's surface.**

"Please just leave it where it is." Lily said.

"Mum, it's in the future; I can't really do anything about it." Cris said.

**She had expected it to feel cold, but it did not. On the contrary, it felt as though it had been lying in the sun for hours, as though the glow of light within was warming it. Expecting, even hoping, that something dramatic was going to happen, something exciting that might make their long and dangerous journey worthwhile after all, Cris lifted the glass ball down from its shelf and stared at it.**

**Nothing whatsoever happened. The others moved in closer around Cris, gazing at the orb as she brushed it free of the clogging dust.**

**And then, from right behind them, a drawling voice spoke. **

"It's my father, isn't?" Draco asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised." Sirius said.

"Great, I wonder how many Death Munchers are there." Cris said.

"Death Munchers?" Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow and a quirked smile.

"Well they are called Death Eaters, Munchers makes it sound funny." Cris said. Many of the adults shook their heads.

**"Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."**

"That's the chapter." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Let's get this over with." Mr. Weasley said taking the book from his wife.


	39. Chapter 35: Beyond the Veil

"**Chapter 35: Beyond the Veil," **Mr. Weasley said.

"Someone dies." Cris said going wide eyed.

"It's not dad, he's healthy, though it is someone from our side." Keiran said.

"Nobody in this room though." Victoire said. The group nodded, wanting to get this chapter done with.

**Black shapes were emerging out of thin air all around them, blocking their way left and right; eyes glinted through slits in hoods, a dozen lit wand tips were pointing directly at their hearts; Ginny gave a gasp of horror.**

"I wouldn't say that it was just Ginny." Sirius said.

"Yeah, probably." Cris said.

**"****To me, Potter," repeated the drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy as he held out his hand, palm up.**

**Cris' insides plummeted sickeningly. They were trapped, and outnumbered two to one.**

**"****To me," said Malfoy yet again.**

**"****Where's Sirius?" Cris said.**

**Several of the Death Eaters laughed; a harsh female voice from the midst of the shadowy figures to Cris' left said triumphantly, "The Dark Lord always knows!"**

"Somehow I don't think he knows everything." Remus said.

"I know mum surprised him on quite a few occasions." James said.

"Now this I can't wait for." Sirius said.

**"****Always," echoed Malfoy softly. "Now, give me the prophecy Potter."**

**"****I want to know where Sirius is!"**

**"****I want to know where Sirius is!" mimicked the woman to her left. **

"Crap, it's Bella." Sirius said.

"You six really have to watch yourselves." Remus said.

"No kidding," Hermione said.

**She and her fellow Death Eaters had closed in so that they were mere feet away from Cris and the others, the light from their wands dazzling Cris' eyes.**

**"****You've got him," said Cris, ignoring the rising panic in her chest, the dread she had been fighting since they had first entered the ninety-seventh row. "He's here. I know he is."**

**"****The little baby woke up fwightened and fort what it dweamed was twoo," said the woman in a horrible, mock baby voice. **

**Cris felt Ron stir beside her.**

**"****Don't do anything," Cris muttered. "Not yet -"**

"Thank Merlin you're not rash like you father and godfather can be." Lily said.

"Oi!" they cried.

**The woman who had mimicked her let out a raucous scream of laughter.**

**"****You hear her? You hear her? Giving instructions to the other children as though she thinks of fighting us!"**

**"****Oh, you don't know Potter as I do, Bellatrix," said Malfoy softly. "She has a great weakness for heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about her. Now give me the prophecy, Potter."**

"Don't give it to him." Remus said.

"I don't think I plan to." Cris said.

**"****I know Sirius is here," said Cris, though panic was causing her chest to constrict and she felt as though she could not breathe properly. "I know you've got him!"**

**More of the Death Eaters laughed, though the woman laughed loudest of all.**

**"It's time you learned the difference between life and dreams, Potter," said Malfoy.**

"So it was a plan, just to get you there and away from Hogwarts." Remus said.

"Well, it worked." Cris said.

**"Now give me the prophecy, or we start using wands."**

"I'm amazed they haven't already." Draco said.

"The prophecy must be very important then." Luna said.

"It is," Dumbledore said.

**"****Go on, then," said Cris, raising her own wand to chest height. As she did so, the five wands of Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and Luna rose on either side of her. The knot in Cris' stomach tightened. If Sirius really was not here, she had led her friends to their deaths for no reason at all…**

"I'm sure we'll make it out alright." Hermione said.

"Injured but alright." Ginny said.

**But the Death Eaters did not strike.**

**"****Hand over the prophecy and no one need get hurt," said Malfoy coolly.**

"Knowing my father, that won't happen." Draco said.

**It was Cris' turn to laugh.**

**"****Yeah, right!" she said. "I give you this - prophecy, is it? And you'll just let us skip off home, will you?"**

**The words were hardly out of her mouth when the female Death Eater shrieked: "Accio proph—"**

**Cris was just ready for her: she shouted "Protego!" before she had finished her spell, and though the glass sphere slipped to the tips of her fingers she managed to cling on to it.**

"Thank god for you being a seeker." Lily said.

"Did Lily just say what I thought she said?" Prongs whispered to Padfoot who nodded.

**"****Oh, she knows how to play, little bitty baby Potter," she said, her mad eyes staring through the slits in her hood. "Very well, then -"**

**"****I TOLD YOU, NO!" Lucius Malfoy roared at the woman. "If you smash it -!"**

"Yes smash, it'll be better than Voldemort knowing it." Remus said.

"But then I won't know it." Cris said.

"I know it." Dumbledore said. Cris nodded as Mr. Weasley continued.

**Cris' mind was racing. The Death Eaters wanted this dusty spun-glass sphere. She had no interest in it. She just wanted to get them all out of this alive, to make sure none of her friends paid a terrible price for her stupidity…**

**The woman stepped forward, away from her fellows, and pulled off her hood. Azkaban had hollowed Bellatrix Lestrange's face, making it gaunt and skull-like, but it was alive with a feverish, fanatical glow.**

"Nothing too different then." Sirius said.

"She was actually quite beautiful before she went to Azkaban." Draco said.

"You've seen the pictures then?" Sirius asked. Draco nodded but didn't say anything else.

**"****You need more persuasion?" she said, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "Very well - take the smallest one," she ordered the Death Eaters beside her. **

"Who's the smallest?" Padfoot asked.

"It's between Cris, Hermione, Luna and Ginny." Lily said.

"This is not going to be good." Padfoot said.

**"Let her watch while we torture the little girl.**

"Which little girl?" Remus asked.

"They better not touch any of them." Bill said with a growl.

**I'll do it."**

**Cris felt the others close in around Ginny; she stepped sideways so that she was right in front of her, the prophecy held up to her chest.**

**"****You'll have to smash this if you want to attack any of us," she told Bellatrix. "I don't think your boss will be too pleased if you come back without it, will he?"**

**She did not move; she merely stared at her, the tip of her tongue moistening her thin mouth.**

**"****So," said Cris, "what kind of prophecy are we talking about, anyway?"**

**She could not think what to do but to keep talking.**

"Good, always keep the enemy distracted." Moody said.

**Neville's arm was pressed against hers, and she could feel him shaking; she could feel one of the others' quickened breath on the back of her head.**

**She was hoping they were all thinking hard about ways to get out of this, because her mind was blank.**

**"****What kind of prophecy?" repeated Bellatrix, the grin fading from her face. "You jest, Cristal Potter."**

**"****Nope, not jesting," said Cris, her eyes flicking from Death Eater to Death Eater, looking for a weak link, a space through which they could escape. "How come Voldemort wants it?" **

"It might be a good thing I don't know it. If I smashed it they might take me and Voldemort would torture me until I tell it to him." Cris said with a shudder.

"Don't think like that." Fred said. Fred and George held her tightly after that comment.

**Several of the Death Eaters let out low hisses.**

**"You dare speak his name?" whispered Bellatrix.**

**"Yeah," said Cris, maintaining her tight grip on the glass ball, expecting another attempt to bewitch it from her. "Yeah, I've got no problem with saying Vol—"**

**"Shut your mouth!" Bellatrix shrieked. "You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you dare -"**

"Yet they don't say it either." Charlie said.

**"Did you know he's a half-blood too?" said Cris recklessly. **

"CRIS! Now is not the time to provoke the Death Eaters." Sirius said.

"She gets it from you." Lily said hitting Prongs said.

"I'm sorry Lily-Flower." Prongs said.

**Hermione gave a little moan in her ear.**

"I think I was meaning for you to shut up." Hermione said.

"Probably." Cris said with a smile.

**"Voldemort? Yeah, his mother was a witch but his dad was a Muggle - or has he been telling you lot he's pure-blood?"**

**"STUPEF—"**

"Cris, why must you provoke them?" Sirius asked groaning a little.

"I'm sorry," Cris said sheepishly.

**"NO!"**

**A jet of red light had shot from the end of Bellatrix Lestrange's wand, but Malfoy had deflected it; his spell caused hers to hit the shelf a foot to the left of Cris and several of the glass orbs there shattered.**

**Two figures, pearly-white as ghosts, fluid as smoke, unfurled themselves from the fragments of broken glass upon the floor and each began to speak; their voices vied with each other, so that only fragments of what they were saying could be heard over Malfoy and Bellatrix's shouts.**

"You know those are irreplaceable." Percy said.

"Which is more important? Getting killed or getting out of there unhurt?" Hermione asked.

"Getting out may include smashing a lot of prophecies." Ginny said.

**"… at the solstice will come a new…" said the figure of an old, bearded man.**

**"DO NOT ATTACK! WE NEED THE PROPHECY!"**

**"She dared - she dares -" shrieked Bellatrix incoherently, "she stands there - filthy half-blood -"**

**"WAIT UNTIL WE'VE GOT THE PROPHECY!" bawled Malfoy.**

**"… and none will come after…" said the figure of a young woman.**

"How many seers are there?" Gwen asked.

"There were quite a few but there isn't many now." Remus said.

"That's sad." Gwen said.

**The two figures that had burst from the shattered spheres had melted into thin air. Nothing remained of them or their erstwhile homes but fragments of glass upon the floor.**

"So once they are destroyed they won't come back?" Gwen asked.

"Yep, once they are broken you can't retrieve them." McGonagall said.

**They had, however, given Cris an idea. The problem was going to be conveying it to the others.**

**"You haven't told me what's so special about this prophecy I'm supposed to be handing over," she said, playing for time. She moved her foot slowly sideways, feeling around for someone else's.**

"What is your idea?" Ron asked.

"I think I know what book me is thinking of, and the Ministry won't like it at all." Cris said.

"Well, as long as you get out of there alive then the Ministry will just have to live with it." Sirius said.

**"****Do not play games with us, Potter," said Malfoy.**

**"****I'm not playing games," said Cris, half her mind on the conversation, half on her wandering foot. And then she found someone's toes and pressed down upon them. A sharp intake of breath behind her told her they were Hermione's.**

"You know what my breathing sounds like?" Hermione asked.

"We've been friends for five years now; of course I know what your breathing sounds like." Cris said.

"Well, when you put it like that I know what you mean." Hermione said.

**"****What?" she whispered.**

**"****Dumbledore never told you the reason you bear that scar was hidden in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries?" Malfoy sneered.**

**"****I - what?" said Cris. And for a moment she quite forgot her plan. "What about my scar?"**

"It has to do with my scar?" Cris asked.

"No, not just your scar, but why Voldemort went after you in the first place." Dumbledore said.

"So your saying that Voldemort knows some of the prophecy?" Cris asked.

"Yes," Dumbledore said, "But not all of it."

**"****What?" whispered Hermione more urgently behind her.**

**"****Can this be?" said Malfoy, sounding maliciously delighted; some of the Death Eaters were laughing again, and under cover of their laughter, Cris hissed to Hermione, moving her lips as little as possible, "Smash shelves -"**

"You're going to destroy the hall of prophecies?" Prongs asked wide eyed.

"You guys are crazy." Bill said.

**"****Dumbledore never told you?" Malfoy repeated. "Well, this explains why you didn't come earlier, Potter, the Dark Lord wondered why -"**

**"****- when I say now-"**

**"****- you didn't come running when he showed you the place where it was hidden in your dreams. He thought natural curiosity would make you want to hear the exact wording…"**

**"****Did he?" said Cris. Behind her she felt rather than heard Hermione passing her message to the others and she sought to keep talking, to distract the Death Eaters. "So he wanted me to come and get it, did he? Why?"**

"So he won't have to." Sirius said.

**"****Why?" Malfoy sounded incredulously delighted. "Because the only people who are permitted to retrieve a prophecy from the Department of Mysteries, Potter, are those about whom it was made, as the Dark Lord discovered when he attempted to use others to steal it for him."**

**"****And why did he want to steal a prophecy about me?" **

"It's about both of you." Gwen said.

**"****About both of you, Potter, about both of you…**

"Why did I have to say the same thing as your dad?" Gwen asked.

"I'm sorry," Draco said with a smile.

**haven't you ever wondered why the Dark Lord tried to kill you as a baby?"**

"The prophecy is the reason we went into hiding, isn't?" Lily asked.

"Yes, it was." Dumbledore said.

**Cris stared into the slitted eye-holes through which Malfoy's grey eyes were gleaming. Was this prophecy the reason Cris' parents had died, the reason she carried her lightning-bolt scar? Was the answer to all of this clutched in her hand? **

"Yes," Dumbledore said gravely.

"Can't you tell me now?" Cris asked.

"It'll be best if you let the book explain." Dumbledore said.

**"****Someone made a prophecy about Voldemort and me?" she said quietly, gazing at Lucius Malfoy, her fingers tightening over the warm glass sphere in her hand. It was hardly larger than a Snitch and still gritty with dust. "And he's made me come and get it for him? Why couldn't he come and get it himself?"**

**"****Get it himself?" shrieked Bellatrix, over a cackle of mad laughter. "The Dark Lord, walk into the Ministry of Magic, when they are so sweetly ignoring his return? The Dark Lord, reveal himself to the Aurors, when at the moment they are wasting their time on my dear cousin?"**

**"****So, he's got you doing his dirty work for him, has he?" said Cris. "Like he tried to get Sturgis to steal it - and Bode?" **

**"****Very good, Potter, very good…" said Malfoy slowly. "But the Dark Lord knows you are not unintell—" **

"Thank Merlin for that." Prongs said.

**"****NOW!" yelled Cris.**

**Five different voices behind her bellowed, "REDUCTO!" Five curses flew in five different directions and the shelves opposite them exploded as they hit; the towering structure swayed as a hundred glass spheres burst apart, pearly-white figures unfurled into the air and floated there, their voices echoing from who knew what long-dead past amid the torrent of crashing glass and splintered wood now raining down upon the floor -**

"It is a good distraction, good thinking." Moody said.

**"****RUN!" Cris yelled, as the shelves swayed precariously and more glass spheres began to fall from above. She seized a handful of Hermione's robes and dragged her forwards, holding one arm over her head as chunks of shelf and shards of glass thundered down upon them. A Death Eater lunged forwards through the cloud of dust and Cris elbowed him hard in the masked face; they were all yelling, there were cries of pain, and thunderous crashes as the shelves collapsed upon themselves, weirdly echoing fragments of the Seers unleashed from their spheres - Cris found the way ahead clear and saw Ron, Ginny and Luna sprint past her, their arms over their heads; something heavy struck her on the side of the face but she merely ducked her head and sprinted onwards; a hand caught her by the shoulder; she heard Hermione shout, "Stupefy!" The hand released her at once –**

**They were at the end of row ninety-seven; Cris turned right and began to sprint in earnest; she could hear footsteps right behind her and Hermione's voice urging Neville on; straight ahead, the door through which they had come was ajar; Cris could see the glittering light of the bell jar; she pelted through the doorway, the prophecy still clutched tight and safe in her hand, and waited for the others to hurtle over the threshold before slamming the door behind them -**

**"****Colloportus!" gasped Hermione and the door sealed itself with an odd squelching noise.**

"Good, they won't get through." Mrs. Weasley said.

"What about the others?" Bill asked.

"I'm sure they're fine." Charlie said.

**"****Where - where are the others?" gasped Cris.**

"Great, we're separated." Ron said.

"We'll be fine." Ginny told his brother.

**She had thought Ron, Luna and Ginny were ahead of them,**

"We must have gone a different direction." Luna said.

"This is not good." Tonks said.

**that they would be waiting in this room, but there was nobody there.**

**"****They must have gone the wrong way!" whispered Hermione, terror in her face.**

"I must have followed the two girls." Ron said.

"Good," Charlie said.

**"****Listen!" whispered Neville.**

**Footsteps and shouts echoed from behind the door they had just sealed; Cris put her ear close to the door to listen and heard Lucius Malfoy roar, "Leave Nott, leave him, I say — his injuries will be nothing to the Dark Lord compared to losing that prophecy.**

"One down," Bill said.

"I wonder how many he sent." Sirius said.

"I don't know." Bill said.

**Jugson, come back here, we need to organize! We'll split into pairs and search, and don't forget, be gentle with Potter until we've got the prophecy, you can kill the others if necessary - Bellatrix, Rodolphus, you take the left; Crabbe, Rabastan, go right -Jugson, Dolohov, the door straight ahead - Macnair and Avery, through here - Rookwood, over there - Mulciber, come with me!"**

**"****What do we do?" Hermione asked Cris, trembling from head to foot.**

"Of course I'm shaking, this is the first time I faced Death Eaters." Hermione said.

"You guys did great." Keiran said.

"How badly injured were they?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Nothing life threatening." Teddy said.

"Good,"

**"****Well, we don't stand here waiting for them to find us, for a start," said Cris. "Let's get away from this door." They ran as quietly as they could, past the shimmering bell jar where the tiny egg was hatching and unhatching, towards the exit into the circular hallway at the far end of the room. They were almost there when Cris heard something large and heavy collide with the door Hermione had charmed shut.**

**"****Stand aside!" said a rough voice. "Alahomora!"**

**As the door flew open, Cris, Hermione and Neville dived under desks. They could see the bottom of the two Death Eaters' robes drawing nearer, their feet moving rapidly.**

**"****They might've run straight through to the hall," said the rough voice.**

**"****Check under the desks," said another. **

"Crap, these two aren't idiots." Sirius said.

**Cris saw the knees of the Death Eaters bend; poking his wand out from under the desk, she shouted, "STUPEFY!"**

**A jet of red light hit the nearest Death Eater; he fell backwards into a grandfather clock and knocked it over; the second Death Eater, however, had leapt aside to avoid Cris' spell and was pointing his own wand at Hermione, who was crawling out from under the desk to get a better aim.**

**"****Avada -**

"I was that close to death." Hermione whispered wide eyed.

"Don't worry, you survived." Lily J said with a kind smile.

**Cris launched herself across the floor and grabbed the Death Eater around the knees, causing him to topple and his aim to go awry. Neville overturned a desk in his anxiety to help; and pointing his wand wildly at the struggling pair, he cried:**

**"****EXPELLIARMUS!"**

**Both Cris' and the Death Eater's wands**

"Sorry," Neville said.

"It's alright, as long as the Death Eater doesn't have a wand. I can always kick him where it hurts." Cris said. The men in the room whimpered and crossed themselves.

"That's my girl." Lily said with a smile.

**flew out of their hands and soared back towards the entrance to the Hall of Prophecy; both scrambled to their feet and charged after them, the Death Eater in front, Cris hot on his heels, and Neville bringing up the rear, plainly horrorstruck by what he had done.**

**"****Get out of the way, Cris!" yelled Neville, clearly determined to repair the damage.**

**Cris flung herself sideways as Neville took aim again and shouted:**

**"****STUPEFY!"**

**The jet of red light had flown right over the Death Eater's shoulder and hit a glass-fronted cabinet on the wall full of variously shaped hour-glasses;**

"The time-turners." Bill said.

**the cabinet fell to the floor and burst apart, glass flying everywhere, sprang back up on to the wall, fully mended, then fell down again, and shattered -**

"Why is the cabinet doing that?" Cris asked.

"I have no idea." Sirius said.

**The Death Eater had snatched up his wand, which lay on the floor beside the glittering bell jar.**

**Cris ducked down behind another desk as the man turned; his mask had slipped so that he couldn't see. He ripped it off with his free hand and shouted: "STUP—"**

**"****STUPEFY!" screamed Hermione, who had just caught up with them. The jet of red light hit the Death Eater in the middle of his chest: he froze, his arm still raised, his wand fell to the floor with a clatter and he collapsed backwards towards the bell jar. Cris expected to hear a dunk, for the man to hit solid glass and slide off the jar on to the floor, but instead, his head sank through the surface of the bell jar as though it were nothing but a soap bubble and he came to rest, sprawled on his back on the table, with his head lying inside the jar full of glittering wind.**

"What's going to happen to him?" Ginny asked.

"I have no clue." Remus said.

**"Accio wand!" cried Hermione. Cris' wand flew from a dark corner into her hand and she threw it to her.**

**"Thanks," she said. "Right, let's get out of —"**

**"Look out!" said Neville, horrified. He was staring at the Death Eater's head in the bell jar.**

**All three of them raised their wands again, but none of them struck: they were all gazing, openmouthed, appalled, at what was happening to the man's head.**

**It was shrinking very fast, growing balder and balder, the black hair and stubble retracting into his skull; his cheeks becoming smooth, his skull round and covered with a peach like fuzz… **

"He's turning into a baby?" Tonks asked.

"No, just his head." Remus said.

"That is so weird." Gwen said.

**A baby's head now sat grotesquely on top of the thick, muscled neck of the Death Eater as he struggled to get up again; but even as they watched, their mouths open, the head began to swell to its previous proportions again; thick black hair was sprouting from the pate and chin…**

**"****It's Time," said Hermione in an awestruck voice. "Time…"**

**The Death Eater shook his ugly head again, trying to clear it, but before he could pull himself together it began to shrink back to babyhood once more…**

**There was a shout from a room nearby, then a crash and a scream.**

**"****RON?" Cris yelled, turning quickly from the monstrous transformation taking place before them. "GINNY? LUNA?"**

"What happened?" Mrs. Weasley asked frantically.

"One of them got hurt, but nothing too bad." Keiran said.

"I hope it was nothing too serious." Mrs. Weasley said.

**"****Cris!" Hermione screamed.**

**The Death Eater had pulled his head out of the bell jar. His appearance was utterly bizarre, his tiny baby's head bawling loudly while his thick arms flailed dangerously in all directions, narrowly missing Cris, who had ducked. Cris raised her wand but to her amazement Hermione seized her arm.**

**"****You can't hurt a baby!"**

"I don't think I was going to." Cris said.

"Do you know what you would do?" Hermione asked.

"Probably stun him." Cris said.

**There was no time to argue the point; Cris could hear more footsteps growing louder from the Hall of Prophecy and knew, too late, that she ought not to have shouted and given away their position.**

**"****Come on!" she said, and leaving the ugly baby-headed Death Eater staggering behind them they took off for the door that stood open at the other end of the room, leading back into the black hallway.**

**They had run halfway towards it when Cris saw through the open door two more Death Eaters running across the black room towards them; veering left, he burst instead into a small, dark, cluttered office and slammed the door behind them.**

**"****Collo—" began Hermione, but before she could complete the spell the door had burst open and the two Death Eaters had come hurtling inside.**

"Great," Lily groaned.

**With a cry of triumph, both yelled:**

**"****IMPEDIMENTA!"**

**Cris, Hermione and Neville were all knocked backwards off their feet; Neville was thrown over the desk and disappeared from view; Hermione smashed into a bookcase and was promptly deluged in a cascade of heavy books; **

"You know Mia, this could be a sign." Cris said with a smile.

"A sign of what?" Hermione asked.

"That you shouldn't read too much." Ron said.

"Ha-ha, let's all laugh at the bookworm." Hermione said. Ron smiled and kissed her. Mr. Weasley smiled and continued reading.

**the back of Cris' head slammed into the stone wall behind her, tiny lights burst in front of her eyes and for a moment she was too dizzy and bewildered to react.**

**"****WE'VE GOT HER!" yelled the Death Eater nearest Cris. "IN AN OFFICE OFF—"**

**"****Silencio!" cried Hermione and the man's voice was extinguished. He continued to mouth through the hole in his mask, but no sound came out. He was thrust aside by his fellow Death Eater.**

"Maybe you should have done something more powerful." Remus said.

"It was probably the first thing I could think of." Hermione said.

**"****Petrificus Totalus!" shouted Cris, as the second Death Eater raised his wand. His arms and legs snapped together and he fell forwards, face down on to the rug at Cris' feet, stiff as a board and unable to move.**

**"****Well done, Cr—"**

**But the Death Eater Hermione had just struck dumb made a sudden slashing movement with his wand; a streak of what looked like purple flame passed right across Hermione's chest. She gave a tiny "Oh!" as though of surprise and crumpled on to the floor, where she lay motionless.**

"What the hell was that?" Ron asked wide-eyed.

"It's a dangerous hex, it's like a knife. It causes internal damage, but for the life of me I can't remember what the hex is called." Sirius said.

"But since it was silent it won't be that fatal." Remus said.

"How badly was I hurt?" Hermione asked.

"Madame Pomfrey fixed you up no problem." Keiran said.

"Good," Ron said.

**"****HERMIONE!"**

**Cris fell to her knees beside her as Neville crawled rapidly towards her from under the desk, his wand held up in front of him. The Death Eater kicked out hard at Neville's head as he emerged - his foot broke Neville's wand in two and connected with his face.**

"That's my dad's wand." Neville said sadly.

"You use my wand?" Frank asked. Neville nodded sadly.

"You should have had your own wand." Alice said.

"What was my mum thinking?" Frank asked.

"That I would be more like you guys." Neville said.

"You are like both of us; don't let my mum tell you differently." Frank said. Neville nodded and Mr. Weasley continued reading.

**Neville gave a howl of pain and recoiled, clutching his mouth and nose. Cris twisted around, her own wand held high, and saw that the Death Eater had ripped off his mask and was pointing his wand directly at Cris, who recognized the long, pale, twisted face from the Daily Prophet: Antonin Dolohov, the wizard who had murdered the Prewetts.**

"Get him good Cris." Bill snarled.

"I hope he gets killed." Charlie said.

**Dolohov grinned. With his free hand, he pointed from the prophecy still clutched in Cris' hand, to himself, then at Hermione. Though he could no longer speak, his meaning could not have been clearer. Give me the prophecy, or you get the same as her…**

"I doubt Cris will give it up that easily." Robin said.

**"****Like you won't kill us all anyway, the moment I hand it over!" said Cris.**

"That is very true," George muttered.

**A whine of panic inside her head was preventing her thinking properly: she had one hand on Hermione's shoulder, which was still warm, yet did not dare look at her properly. Don't let her be dead, don't let her be dead, it's my fault if she's dead… **

"Oh Bolt, I'm not dead." Hermione said.

"Apparently you look like it though." Cris said.

**"****Whaddever you do, Cris," said Neville fiercely from under the desk, lowering his hands to show a clearly broken nose and blood pouring down his mouth and chin, "don'd gib it to him!"**

**Then there was a crash outside the door and Dolohov looked over his shoulder - the baby-headed Death Eater had appeared in the doorway, his head bawling, his great fists still flailing uncontrollably at everything around him. Cris seized her chance:**

**"****PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"**

**The spell hit Dolohov before he could block it and he toppled forwards across his comrade, both of them rigid as boards and unable to move an inch.**

"Well that's good." Charlie said.

"How many Death Eaters is that?" Padfoot asked.

"4, I wonder how many are left." Tonks said.

"The four is just by these three I wonder how the other three are faring." Kingsley said.

**"****Hermione," Cris said at once, shaking her as the baby-headed Death Eater blundered out of sight again. "Hermione, wake up…"**

**"****Whad did he do to her?" said Neville, crawling out from under the desk to kneel at her other side, blood streaming from his rapidly swelling nose.**

"Your nose will be fine once you see Pomfrey." Robin said.

"**I dunno…"**

**Neville groped for Hermione's wrist.**

"**Dat's a pulse, Cris, I'b sure id is."**

"Thank Merlin." Ron said.

**Such a powerful wave of relief swept through Cris that for a moment she felt light-headed.**

**"****She's alive?"**

**"****Yeah, I dink so."**

**There was a pause in which Cris listened hard for the sound of more footsteps, but all she could hear were the whimpers and blunderings of the baby-headed Death Eater in the next room.**

"You should really stun him or something." Bill said.

**"****Neville, we're not far from the exit," Cris whispered, "we're right next to that circular room… if we can just get you across it and find the right door before any more Death Eaters come, I'll bet you can get Hermione up the corridor and into the lift… then you could find someone… raise the alarm…"**

"Oh Cris, you should have thought of that earlier." Remus said.

"This is in the future Remus, let her be." Robin said.

**"****And whad are you going do do?" said Neville, mopping his bleeding nose with his sleeve and frowning at Cris.**

**"****I've got to find the others," said Cris.**

**"****Well, I'b going do find dem wid you," said Neville firmly.**

**"****But Hermione —"**

**"****We'll dake her wid us," said Neville firmly. "I'll carry her — you're bedder at fighding dem dan I ab -"**

"Besides, you can use my wand since yours is broken." Hermione said.

"Yeah, better to have a weapon then to go weaponless." Tonks said.

**He stood up and seized one of Hermione's arms, glaring at Cris, who hesitated, then grabbed the other and helped hoist Hermione's limp form over Neville's shoulders.**

**"Wait," said Cris, snatching up Hermione's wand from the floor and shoving it into Neville's hand, "you'd better take this."**

**Neville kicked aside the broken fragments of his own wand as they walked slowly towards the door.**

**"****My gran's going do kill be," said Neville thickly, blood spattering from his nose as he spoke, "dat was by dad's old wand."**

"You're not mad right?" Neville asked.

"No, you're only fifteen and fighting Death Eaters, I'm damn proud of you." Frank said.

**Cris stuck her head out of the door and looked around cautiously. The baby-headed Death Eater was screaming and banging into things, toppling grandfather clocks and overturning desks, bawling and confused, while the glass-fronted cabinet that Cris now suspected had contained Time-Turners continued to fall, shatter and repair itself on the wall behind them. **

"Did all the time-turners break?" McGonagall asked.

"I think so." Teddy said.

**"****He's never going to notice us," she whispered. "C'mon… keep close behind me…"**

**They crept out of the office and back towards the door into the black hallway, which now seemed completely deserted. They walked a few steps forwards, Neville tottering slightly due to Hermione's weight; the door of the Time Room swung shut behind them and the walls began to rotate once more. The recent blow on the back of Cris' head seemed to have unsteadied her; she narrowed her eyes, swaying slightly, until the walls stopped moving again. With a sinking heart, Cris saw that Hermione's fiery crosses had faded from the doors.**

"Damn," Cris said.

**"****So which way d'you reck—?"**

**But before they could make a decision as to which way to try, a door to their right sprang open and three people fell out of it.**

The group tensed again hoping it wasn't anymore Death Eaters.

**"****Ron!" croaked Cris,**

"Finally, we're back together." Ron said.

"Now, don't separate again." Tonks said.

"We'll try not to." Ginny said.

**dashing towards them. "Ginny - are you all -?"**

**"****Cris," said Ron, giggling weakly, lurching forwards, seizing the front of Cris' robes and gazing at her with unfocused eyes, "there you are… ha ha ha… you look funny, Cris… you're all messed up…"**

"What the hell happened to me?" Ron asked.

"I have no clue, but this should be interesting." Fred said.

**Ron's face was very white and something dark was trickling from the corner of his mouth. Next moment his knees had given way, but he still clutched the front of Cris robes, so that Cris was pulled into a kind of bow.**

**"****Ginny?" Cris said fearfully. "What happened?"**

**But Ginny shook her head and slid down the wall into a sitting position, panting and holding her ankle.**

**"****I think her ankle's broken, I heard something crack," whispered Luna, who was bending over her and who alone seemed to be unhurt. "Four of them chased us into a dark room full of planets; it was a very odd place, some of the time we were just floating in the dark -"**

"Sounds like a very weird room." Lily J said.

**"****Cris, we saw Uranus up close!" said Ron, still giggling feebly. "Get it, Cris? We saw Uranus - ha ha ha -"**

**A bubble of blood grew at the corner of Ron's mouth and burst.**

**"****- anyway, one of them grabbed Ginny's foot, I used the Reductor Curse and blew up Pluto in his face, but…"**

**Luna gestured hopelessly at Ginny, who was breathing in a very shallow way, her eyes still closed.**

**"****And what about Ron?" said Cris fearfully, as Ron continued to giggle, still hanging off the front of Cris' robes.**

**"****I don't know what they hit him with," said Luna sadly, "but he's gone a bit funny, I could hardly get him along at all."**

**"****Cris," said Ron, pulling Cris' ear down to his mouth and still giggling weakly, "you know who this girl is, Cris? She's Loony… Loony Lovegood… ha ha ha "**

"Wow, whatever they did, they sure did it to you good." Charlie said.

"Sounds like a very poorly attempted Imperius Curse." Remus said.

**"****We've got to get out of here," said Cris firmly. "Luna, can you help Ginny?"**

**"****Yes," said Luna, sticking her wand behind her ear for safekeeping, then putting an arm around Ginny's waist and pulling her up.**

**"****It's only my ankle, I can do it myself!" said Ginny impatiently, but next moment she had collapsed sideways and grabbed Luna for support.**

"It sounds like a really bad break." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Nothing Pomfrey can't handle." Keiran said.

**Cris pulled Ron's arm over her shoulder just as, so many months ago, she had pulled Dudley's. She looked around: they had a one in twelve chance of getting the exit right first time -**

**She heaved Ron towards a door; they were within a few feet of it when another door across the hall burst open and three Death Eaters sped in, led by Bellatrix Lestrange.**

"Just get out of there." Mrs. Weasley pleaded.

**"****There they are!" she shrieked.**

**Stunning Spells shot across the room: Cris smashed her way through the door ahead, flung Ron unceremoniously from her and ducked back to help Neville in with Hermione: they were all over the threshold just in time to slam the door against Bellatrix.**

**"****Colloportus!" shouted Cris, and she heard three bodies slam into the door on the other side. **

"What room are you in now?" Padfoot asked.

"I guess we'll find out." Moony said.

**"****It doesn't matter!" said a man's voice. "There are other ways in - WE'VE GOT THEM, THEY'RE HERE!"**

**Cris span around; they were back in the Brain Room and, sure enough, there were doors all around the walls. She could hear footsteps in the hall behind them as more Death Eaters came running to join the first.**

**"****Luna - Neville - help me!"**

**The three of them tore around the room, sealing the doors as they went; Cris crashed into a table and rolled over the top of it in her haste to reach the next door:**

**"****Colloportus!"**

"Just keep it up and you'll be safe." Kingsley said. "We'll safer."

**There were footsteps running along behind the doors, every now and then another heavy body would launch itself against one, so it creaked and shuddered; Luna and Neville were bewitching the doors along the opposite wall - then, as Cris reached the very top of the room, she heard Luna cry:**

**"****Collo—aaaaaaaaargh…"**

"Damnit!" cursed half the room.

**She turned in time to see her flying through the air; five Death Eaters were surging into the room through the door she had not reached in time; Luna hit a desk, slid over its surface and on to the floor on the other side where she lay sprawled, as still as Hermione.**

"This is not good." Mrs. Weasley said her face really pale.

**"****Get Potter!" shrieked Bellatrix, and she ran at her; she dodged her and sprinted back up the room; she was safe as long as they thought they might hit the prophecy -**

**"****Hey!" said Ron, who had staggered to his feet and was now tottering drunkenly towards Cris, giggling. "Hey Cris, there are brains in here, ha h a ha, isn't that weird, Cris?"**

**"****Ron, get out of the way, get down -"**

**But Ron had already pointed his wand at the tank.**

**"****Honest, Cris, they're brains - look -Accio brain!"**

"Ron!" groaned the room.

"You are never getting drunk." Hermione said.

"Yes, Mia." Ron said.

**The scene seemed momentarily frozen. Cris, Ginny and Neville and each of the Death Eaters turned in spite of themselves to watch the top of the tank as a brain burst from the green liquid like a leaping fish: for a moment it seemed suspended in midair, then it soared towards Ron, spinning as it came, and what looked like ribbons of moving images flew from it, unraveling like rolls of film-**

**"Ha ha ha, Cris, look at it -" said Ron, watching it disgorge its gaudy innards, "Cris come and touch it; bet it's weird -"**

"Don't you ever touch those Ronald!" Mrs. Weasley said firmly.

**"****RON, NO!"**

**Cris did not know what would happen if Ron touched the tentacles of thought now flying behind the brain, but she was sure it would not be anything good. She darted forwards but Ron had already caught the brain in his outstretched hands.**

**The moment they made contact with his skin, the tentacles began wrapping themselves around Ron's arms like ropes.**

"What in the world is it?" Ron asked.

"I have no idea." Mr. Weasley said.

**"****Cris, look what's happen— No - no - I don't like it - no, stop - stop -"**

**But the thin ribbons were spinning around Ron's chest now; he tugged and tore at them as the brain was pulled tight against him like an octopus's body.**

**"****Diffindo!" yelled Cris, trying to sever the feelers wrapping themselves tightly around Ron before his eyes, but they would not break. Ron fell over, still thrashing against his bonds.**

**"****Cris, it'll suffocate him!" screamed Ginny, immobilized by her broken ankle on the floor – then a jet of red light flew from one of the Death Eater's wands and hit her squarely in the face. She keeled over sideways and lay there unconscious.**

"You all will get captured now." Tonks said.

"I'm sure we'll be fine." Cris said.

**"****STUBEFY!" shouted Neville, wheeling around and waving Hermione's wand at the oncoming Death Eaters, "STUBEFY, STUBEFY!"**

**But nothing happened.**

"Yeah, it'll be good to do silent spells; those would work better than having a broken nose." Bill said.

**One of the Death Eaters shot their own Stunning Spell at Neville; it missed him by inches. Cris and Neville were now the only two left fighting the five Death Eaters, two of whom sent off streams of silver light like arrows which missed but left craters in the wall behind them. Cris ran for it as Bellatrix Lestrange raced right at her: holding the prophecy high above her head, she sprinted back up the room; all she could think of doing was to draw the Death Eaters away from the others.**

"It's a good idea but you shouldn't do it alone." Robin said.

**It seemed to have worked; they streaked after her, knocking chairs and tables flying but not daring to bewitch her in case they hurt the prophecy, and she dashed through the only door still open, the one through which the Death Eaters themselves had come; inwardly praying that Neville would stay with Ron and find some way of releasing him. She ran a few feet into the new room and felt the floor vanish -**

**She was falling down steep stone step after steep stone step, bouncing on every tier until at last, with a crash that knocked all the breath out of her body, she landed flat on her back in the sunken pit where the stone archway stood on its dais. **

"That is the worst room to fight in," Mrs. Weasley whimpered.

**The whole room was ringing with the Death Eaters' laughter: she looked up and saw the five**

"I so don't like your odds." Sirius muttered.

"Neither do I." Cris said.

**who had been in the Brain Room descending towards her, while as many more **

"How many are there?" Lily asked her face pale.

"A lot," Prongs muttered.

"That isn't helping." Lily whimpered.

"I know," Prongs said taking her hand.

**emerged through other doorways and began leaping from bench to bench towards her. Cris got to her feet though her legs were trembling so badly they barely supported her: the prophecy was still miraculously unbroken in her left hand, her wand clutched tightly in her right. She backed away, looking around, trying to keep all the Death Eaters within her sight. The back of her legs hit something solid: she had reached the dais where the archway stood. She climbed backwards onto it.**

"Don't do that." Cried the room.

**The Death Eaters all halted, gazing at her. Some were panting as hard as she was. One was bleeding badly; Dolohov, freed of the Body-Bind Curse, was leering, his wand pointing straight at Cris' face.**

**"****Potter, your race is run," drawled Lucius Malfoy, pulling off his mask, "now hand me the prophecy like a good girl."**

**"****Let - let the others go, and I'll give it to you!" said Cris desperately.**

"Would you really?" Fred asked.

"They would free the others and then I would smash the prophecy." Cris said.

"Smart." George said.

**A few of the Death Eaters laughed.**

**"****You are not in a position to bargain, Potter," said Lucius Malfoy, his pale face flushed with pleasure. "You see, there are ten of us and only one of you… or hasn't Dumbledore ever taught you how to count?"**

"She isn't alone." Neville said.

"Cris will always have us." Said the group of teens.

**"****She's dot alone!" shouted a voice from above them. "She still god be!"**

"You really do take after your father." Sirius said with a smile.

"Really?" Neville asked.

"Really," Sirius said.

**Cris' heart sank: Neville was scrambling down the stone benches towards them, Hermione's wand held fast in his trembling hand.**

**"****Neville - no - go back to Ron -"**

**"****STUBEFY!" Neville shouted again, pointing his wand at each Death Eater in turn. "STUBEFY! STUBE—"**

**One of the largest Death Eaters seized Neville from behind, pinioning his arms to his sides. He struggled and kicked; several of the Death Eaters laughed.**

**"****It's Longbottom, isn't it" sneered Lucius Malfoy. "Well, your grandmother is used to losing family members to our cause… your death will not come as a great shock."**

"Shut up!" cried his parents.

**"****Longbottom?" repeated Bellatrix, and a truly evil smile lit her gaunt face. "Why, I have had the pleasure of meeting your parents, boy."**

"She shouldn't have had to rot in Azkaban she should have gotten the kiss instead." Sirius said darkly.

"I agree." Neville said.

**"****I DOE YOU HAB!" roared Neville, and he fought so hard against his captors encircling grip that the Death Eater shouted, "Someone Stun him!"**

**"****No, no, no," said Bellatrix. She looked transported, alive with excitement as she glanced at Cris, then back at Neville. "No, let's see how long Longbottom lasts before he cracks like his parents… unless Potter wants to give us the prophecy."**

**"****DON'D GIB ID DO DEM!" roared Neville, who seemed beside himself, kicking and writhing as Bellatrix drew nearer to him and his captor, her wand raised. "DON'D GIB ID DO DEM, Cris!"**

**Bellatrix raised her wand. **

Mr. Weasley saw the next word and took a deep breath before he continued.

**"Crucio!"**

Neville went wide eyed and started shaking somewhat.

"Don't worry babe, I'm here, this won't happen." Ginny said.

**Neville screamed, his legs drawn up to his chest so that the Death Eater holding him was momentarily holding him off the ground. The Death Eater dropped him and he fell to the floor, twitching and screaming in agony.**

**"****That was just a taster!" said Bellatrix, raising her wand so that Neville's screams stopped and he lay sobbing at her feet. She turned and gazed up at Cris. "Now, Potter, either give us the prophecy, or watch your little friend die the hard way!"**

**Cris did not have to think; there was no choice. The prophecy was hot with the heat of him clutching hand as he held it out. Malfoy jumped forwards to take it.**

**Then, high above them, two more doors burst open and six more people sprinted into the room: Sirius, Remus, Moody, Emmeline, Tonks and Kingsley.**

"Good, the Order is there." Mrs. Weasley said.

**Malfoy turned, and raised his wand, but Tonks had already sent a Stunning Spell right at him.**

"I hope that hit him." Tonks said darkly.

**Cris did not wait to see whether it had made contact, but dived off the dais out of the way. The Death Eaters were completely distracted by the appearance of the members of the Order, who were now raining spells down upon them as they jumped from step to step towards the sunken floor. Through the darting bodies, the flashes of light, Cris could see Neville crawling along.**

**She dodged another jet of red light and flung herself flat on the ground to reach Neville.**

**"****Are you okay?" she yelled, as another spell soared inches over their heads.**

**"****Yes," said Neville, trying to pull himself up.**

**"****And Ron?"**

**"****I dink he's all righd - he was still fighding de brain when I lefd -"**

I wonder how long it took." Ron said.

**The stone floor between them exploded as a spell hit it, leaving a crater right where Neville's hand had been only seconds before; both scrambled away from the spot, then a thick arm came out of nowhere, seized Cris around the neck and pulled her upright, so that her toes were barely touching the floor.**

"Please someone notice." Sirius begged.

**"****Give it to me," growled a voice in his ear, "give me the prophecy -"**

**The man was pressing so tightly on Cris' windpipe that she could not breathe. Through watering eyes she saw Sirius dueling with a Death Eater some ten feet away; Kingsley was fighting two at once; Tonks, still halfway up the tiered seats, was firing spells down at Bellatrix - nobody seemed to realize that Cris was dying. She turned her wand backwards towards the man's side, but had no breath to utter an incantation, and the man's free hand was groping towards the hand in which Cris was grasping the prophecy -**

**"****AARGH!"**

**Neville had come lunging out of nowhere; unable to articulate a spell, he had jabbed Hermione's wand hard into the eyehole of the Death Eaters mask.**

"That works too," Sirius said breathing a sigh of relief.

**The man relinquished Cris at once with a howl of pain. Cris whirled around to face him and gasped: "STUPEFY!"**

**The Death Eater keeled over backwards and his mask slipped off: it was Macnair, Buckbeak's would-be killer, one of his eyes now swollen and bloodshot.**

**"****Thanks!" Cris said to Neville, pulling him aside as Sirius and his Death Eater lurched past, dueling so fiercely that their wands were blurs; then Cris' foot made contact with something round and hard and she slipped. For a moment she thought she had dropped the prophecy, but then she saw Moody's magical eye spinning away across the floor.**

**Its owner was lying on his side, bleeding from the head,**

"He was alright, just more paranoid than before." Keiran said.

"Great," Tonks and Kingsley said.

**and his attacker was now bearing down upon Cris and Neville: Dolohov, his long pale face twisted with glee.**

**"Tarantallegra!" he shouted, his wand pointing at Neville, whose legs went immediately into a kind of frenzied tap-dance, **

"Just use finite, it will work." Remus said.

"That is if I can remember it." Cris said.

"Nobody would fault you if you can't." Sirius said.

**unbalancing him and causing him to fall to the floor again. "Now, Potter -"**

**He made the same slashing movement with his wand that he had used on Hermione just as Cris yelled, "Protego!"**

"Good," Sirius said with a sigh of relief.

**Cris felt something streak across her face like a blunt knife; the force of it knocked her sideways and she fell over Neville's jerking legs, but the Shield Charm had stopped the worst of the spell.**

**Dolohov raised his wand again. "Accio proph—"**

"Don't let him take it." Charlie said.

**Sirius had hurtled out of nowhere, rammed Dolohov with his shoulder and sent him flying out of the way. The prophecy had again flown to the tips of Cris' fingers but she had managed to cling on to it. **

"Why aren't you a chaser?" Prongs asked.

"Because I like Seeker better." Cris said.

**Now Sirius and Dolohov were dueling, their wands flashing like swords, sparks flying from their wand-tips - Dolohov drew back his wand to make the same slashing movement he had used on Cris and Hermione. Springing up, Cris yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!" Once again, Dolohov's arms and legs snapped together and he keeled over backwards, landing with a crash on his back.**

"Thanks Prongslet." Sirius said. Cris smiled and nodded but couldn't bring herself to say anything.

**"****Nice one!" shouted Sirius, forcing Cris' head down as a pair of Stunning Spells flew towards them. "Now I want you to get out of-"**

"Get out of there and let us fight." Sirius said.

**They both ducked again; a jet of green light had narrowly missed Sirius.**

"Oh God," Robin said.

"It's alright Kit, I'm alright." Sirius said. Robin just nodded and held onto Sirius as she trembled in his arms.

**Across the room Cris saw Tonks fall from halfway up the stone steps, her limp form toppling from stone seat to stone seat and Bellatrix, triumphant, running back towards the fray.**

"You're okay too mum, nothing that couldn't be fixed." Teddy said. Tonks nodded and Mr. Weasley continued reading.

**"****Cris, take the prophecy, grab Neville and run!" Sirius yelled, dashing to meet Bellatrix. Cris did not see what happened next: Kingsley swayed across his field of vision, battling with the pockmarked and no longer masked Rookwood; another jet of green light flew over Cris' head as she launched himself towards Neville -**

**"****Can you stand?" she bellowed in Neville's ear, as Neville's legs jerked and twitched uncontrollably. "Put your arm round my neck -"**

**Neville did so - Cris heaved — Neville's legs were still flying in every direction, they would not support him, and then, out of nowhere, a man lunged at them: both fell backwards, Neville's legs waving wildly like an overturned beetle's, Cris with her left arm held up in the air to try to save the small glass ball from being smashed.**

**"****The prophecy, give me the prophecy, Potter!" snarled Lucius Malfoy's voice in his ear, and Cris felt the tip of Malfoy's wand pressing hard between her ribs.**

**"****No - get - off - me… Neville - catch it!"**

**Cris flung the prophecy across the floor, Neville spun himself around on his back and scooped the ball to his chest. Malfoy pointed the wand instead at Neville, but Cris jabbed her own wand back over her shoulder and yelled, "Impedimenta!"**

**Malfoy was blasted off her back.**

"Good, now get out of there." Tonks said.

**As Cris scrambled up again she looked around and saw Malfoy smash into the dais on which Sirius and Bellatrix were now dueling. Emmeline was right next to him helping him out.**

"Good, she's a hell of a dueler." Sirius said.

"That she is." Robin said.

**Malfoy aimed his wand at Cris and Neville again, but before he could draw breath to strike, Remus had jumped between them.**

**"****Cris, round up the others and GO!"**

**Cris seized Neville by the shoulder of his robes and lifted him bodily on to the first tier of stone steps; Neville's legs twitched and jerked and would not support his weight; Cris heaved again with all the strength she possessed and they climbed another step -**

**A spell hit the stone bench at Cris' heel; it crumbled away and she fell back to the step below. **

**Neville sank to the ground, his legs still jerking and thrashing, and he thrust the prophecy into his pocket.**

**"****Come on!" said Cris desperately, hauling at Neville's robes. "Just try and push with your legs"**

**She gave another stupendous heave and Neville's robes tore all along the left seam - the small spun-glass ball dropped from his pocket and, before either of them could catch it, one of Neville's floundering feet kicked it: it flew some ten feet to their right and smashed on the step beneath them.**

"Well at least Voldemort won't have it now." Gwen said.

"That's true," Neville said.

**As both of them stared at the place where it had broken, appalled at what had happened, a pearly-white figure with hugely magnified eyes rose into the air, unnoticed by any but them. Cris could see its mouth moving, but in all the crashes and screams and yells surrounding them, not one word of the prophecy could she hear. The figure stopped speaking and dissolved into nothingness.**

"Vell at least none of the Death Eaters know it." Viktor said.

"True,"

**"****Cris, I'b sorry!" cried Neville, his face anguished as his legs continued to flounder. "I'b so sorry, Cris, I didn'd bean do -"**

**"****It doesn't matter!" Cris shouted. "Just try and stand, let's get out of -"**

**"****Dubbledore!" said Neville, his sweaty face suddenly transported, staring over Cris' shoulder.**

**"****What?"**

**"****DUBBLEDORE!"**

"Good, I'm there." Dumbledore said.

**Cris turned to look where Neville was staring. Directly above them, framed in the doorway from the Brain Room, stood Albus Dumbledore, his wand aloft, his face white and furious. Cris felt a kind of electric charge surge through every particle of her body - they were saved. Dumbledore sped down the steps past Neville and Cris, who had no more thoughts of leaving.**

**Dumbledore was already at the foot of the steps when the Death Eaters nearest realized he was there and yelled to the others. One of the Death Eaters ran for it, scrabbling like a monkey up the stone steps opposite. Dumbledore's spell pulled him back as easily and effortlessly as though he had hooked him with an invisible line -**

**Only one pair was still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Cris saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: he was laughing at her. Emmeline shot another spell at her.**

**"****Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.**

**The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.**

"What spell was it?" Robin asked.

"Just a stunner." Keiran said.

**The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.**

**Cris released Neville, though she was unaware of doing so. She was jumping down the steps again, pulling out her wand, as Dumbledore, too, turned towards the dais.**

**It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall: Emmeline pushed Sirius away from the arch and she fell in. **

"No," many of the Order members said.

"She saved me." Sirius said.

"She knew you were a new father and I made her promise just before we were brought here that she would look after you if Dumbledore sent you out." Robin said.

"Thank Merlin you did as well." Cris said.

**Cris saw the look of mingled fear and determination on Emmeline's face as she fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind, then fell back into place.**

Many of the Order were now crying including Cris, though she only knew her shortly.

**Cris heard Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream, but knew it meant nothing- Emmeline had just fallen through the archway, she would reappear from the other side any second…**

**But Emmeline did not reappear. Cris decided to go for her fallen godfather instead. As Sirius was now prone on the ground and Bellatrix was still a threat. **

"**SIRIUS!" Cris yelled. "SIRIUS!" **

**Both Cris and Remus reached for Sirius just as Bellatrix casted another spell at him. Blood appeared on his chest just as the two of them got to him. **

"What the hell was that?" Robin asked.

"It's a spell I invented, I never thought Bellatrix would know it." Snape said.

"What is it?" Sirius asked.

"Is it like the one you shot at me that cut my cheek?" Prongs asked.

"Something like that." Snape said.

**Bellatrix fled just as Cris and Remus were at Sirius' side. **

"**What did she do to him?" Cris asked fearfully as she took in the sight of her bleeding godfather. **

"**I don't know, but you have to help me stop the bleeding." Remus said. Cris nodded and helped Remus as best she could to stop Sirius from bleeding to death. **

"That's the chapter." Mr. Weasley said.

"That's a crazy chapter." Sirius said.

"Please continue," Robin whispered her face extremely pale. Mrs. Weasley gave her a glass of water as Mr. Weasley passed the book to Luna

**A.N.**

**I choose Emmeline because she dies anyway in 1996, the same year Sirius dies. Tell me what you think ;P**


	40. Chapter 36: The Only One He Ever Feared

"**Chapter 36: The Only One He Ever Feared," **Luna read.

"What?" the room asked.

"You'll find out." Keiran said.

"**What about Emmeline?" Cris asked as Remus told her to put pressure on the wound on Sirius' chest. **

"How bad was the wound?" Robin asked.

"Dad has a nice scar from it." Scarlett said. Sirius and Robin nodded; they were glad that it was nothing too terrible.

**She did not believe it; she would not believe it; still she kept looking up at the Archway expecting Emmeline to step out of it. **

Lily had tears in her eyes; her and Emmeline were good friends. Prongs saw the tears and gathered her in his arms as they listened to the last few chapters of this book.

"**She can't come back, Cris," said Remus, his voice breaking as they worked to stop the bleeding. "She can't come back, she's dead, Cris. Please help me stop try and stop this bleeding." **

**Cris nodded and pressed her hands hard over the deep gash on Sirius' chest. Sirius groaned from pain and opened his eyes. All around them there was pointless bustling and flashes of spells. Cris had to duck her head several times to avoid being hit. **

"**Ow," groaned Sirius as he hissed in pain. **

"**Sorry Padfoot, we have to stop the bleeding." said Remus. Remus pointed his wand at the wound and bandages appeared and wrapped themselves around his chest tightly as Cris removed her hands. **

"**What about the prophecy?" Sirius asked.**

"**It smashed." Cris said. Remus and Sirius looked at her and nodded. **

"It's a good thing you told us." Remus said. The other adults nodded at least Voldemort wouldn't get his hand on it.

**Remus helped Sirius stand up and Cris and Remus helped Sirius off the dais. Cris was throwing out Stunners to any Death Eaters coming towards them.**

**Dumbledore had most of the remaining Death Eaters grouped in the middle of the room, seemingly immobilized by invisible ropes; Mad-Eye Moody had crawled across the room to where Tonks lay, and was attempting to revive her; behind the dais there were still hashes of light, grunts and cries - Kingsley had run forward to continue Sirius's duel with Bellatrix.**

"Be careful Kings, my cousin never really learned the term play nice, she likes to play dirty." Sirius said. Kingsley nodded though he knew how Bellatrix could be.

"**Cris?"**

**Neville had managed to slide down the stone benches one by one to the place where Cris crouched next to Sirius and Remus. Sirius and Remus looked up and watched him coming towards them. **

"They were always protective of her, even as a baby." Robin said.

"I can understand that." Neville said with a smile.

**"****Cris… I'b really sorry…" said Neville. His legs were still dancing uncontrollably. "Was dad was a friend of yours?" He was still glancing at Sirius trying to figure out if he was a threat or not. **

"Sorry, she never told us." Neville said.

"That'll be because nobody believed me when I said he was innocent." Cris said.

"You mean the Minister." Fred said.

"Exactly," Cris said.

**Cris nodded.**

"**Here," said Remus quietly, and pointing his wand at Neville's legs he said, "Finite," The spell was lifted: Neville's legs fell back to the floor and remained still. "Sirius, will you be okay while Neville and I go and get the others?" **

"**I'll be fine, just go and make sure the others are okay." Sirius said.**

**Remus nodded and Neville looked up at their old Professor. **

**"Dey're all back dere," said Neville. "A brain addacked Ron bud I dink he's all righd - and Herbione's unconscious, bud we could feel a bulse."**

**There was a loud bang and a yell from behind the dais. Cris saw Kingsley hit the ground yelling in pain:**

"He's alright though," Keiran said.

"Good," Tonks said breathing a sigh of relief.

**Bellatrix Lestrange turned tail and ran as Dumbledore whipped around. He aimed a spell at her but she deflected it; she was halfway up the steps now.**

**"Cris - no!" cried Remus and Sirius, but Cris had already gone after her. She wouldn't let her go after anyone else.**

"She's being noble again." Lily said.

"Of course she is, she is James' daughter." Moony said.

"Oi!"

**And she was off, scrambling up the stone benches; people were shouting behind her but she did not care. The hem of Bellatrix's robes whipped out of sight ahead and they were back in the room where the brains were swimming…**

**She aimed a curse over her shoulder. The tank rose into the air and tipped. Cris was deluged in the foul-smelling potion within: the brains slipped and slid over her and began spinning their long colored tentacles, but she shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!" and they flew off her up into the air. **

"That is a very handy spell." Gwen said.

"That it is." Bill said.

**Slipping and sliding, she ran on towards the door; she leapt over Luna, who was groaning on the floor, past Ginny, who said, "Cris - what -?", past Ron, who giggled feebly, and Hermione, who was still unconscious. She wrenched open the door into the circular black hall and saw Bellatrix disappearing through a door on the other side of the room; beyond her was the corridor leading back to the lifts.**

**She ran, but she had slammed the door behind her and the walls were already rotating. Once more, she was surrounded by streaks of blue light from the whirling candelabra.**

**"Where's the exit?" she shouted desperately, as the wall rumbled to a halt again. "Where's the way out?"**

**The room seemed to have been waiting for her to ask. **

"Maybe we should have thought of that first." Hermione said.

"I know, it would have saved a lot of time." Ron said.

**The door right behind her flew open and the corridor towards the lifts stretched ahead of her, torch-lit and empty. She ran…**

**She could hear a lift clattering ahead; she sprinted up the passageway, swung around the corner and slammed her fist on to the button to call a second lift. It jangled and banged lower and lower; the grilles slid open and Cris dashed inside, now hammering the button marked 'Atrium'. The doors slid shut and she was rising…**

**She forced her way out of the lift before the grilles were fully open and looked around. Bellatrix was almost at the telephone lift at the other end of the hall, but she looked back as she sprinted towards her and aimed another spell at her. She dodged behind the Fountain of Magical Brethren: the spell zoomed past her and hit the wrought gold gates at the other end of the Atrium so that they rang like bells. There were no more footsteps. She had stopped running. she crouched behind the statues, listening.**

"You're one hell of a dueler Cris," Tonks said.

"I'm not that good." Cris said.

"No, you're still young yet your one hell of a dueler. You're about to take on Bellatrix, after you've seen you take down Sirius, Kingsley and Emmeline." Amelia said. Cris blushed brightly at that and Luna continued reading.

**"Come out, come out, little Cristal!" she called in her mock baby voice, which echoed off the polished wooden floors. "What did you come after me for, then? I thought you were here to avenge my dear cousin!"**

"Does she think she killed me?" Sirius asked.

"She probably thinks I want to get her for hurting you." Cris said.

"That maybe it." Sirius said.

**"I am!" shouted Cris, and a score of ghostly Cris' seemed to chorus I am! I am! I am! all around the room**

**"Aaaaaah… did you love him, little baby Potter?"**

**Hatred rose in Cris such as she had never known before; she flung herself out from behind the fountain and bellowed, "Crucio!"**

"I did what now?" Cris asked shocked.

"You used an Unforgivable." Neville said.

"But it was on Bellatrix." Cris said.

"I understand Cris, I do, but maybe you should have at least let one of the adults handle it." Remus said. Cris nodded and let Luna continue.

**Bellatrix screamed: the spell had knocked her off her feet, but she did not writhe and shriek with pain as Neville had - she was already back on her feet, breathless, no longer laughing. Cris dodged behind the golden fountain again. Her counter-spell hit the head of the handsome wizard, which was blown off and landed twenty feet away, gouging long scratches into the wooden floor.**

"You destroyed the statue." Tonks said.

"Technically, Bellatrix destroyed it." Cris said.

"True," Tonks said.

**"Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, girl?" she yelled. She had abandoned her baby voice now. "You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain - to enjoy it - righteous anger won't hurt me for long - I'll show you how it is done, shall I? I'll give you a lesson -"**

"Don't you dare." Sirius growled.

**Cris was edging around the fountain on the other side when she screamed, "Crucio!" and she was forced to duck down again as the centaur's arm, holding its bow, span off and landed with a crash on the floor a short distance from the golden wizard's head.**

**"Potter, you cannot win against me!" she cried.**

"Yes she can!" cried the room.

"Well, mum isn't the one to get her." James said.

"Then who?" Sirius asked.

"You'll find out later, dad." Scarlett said.

"Damn, she still lives then." Sirius said.

**She could hear her moving to the right, trying to get a clear shot of her. Cris backed around the statue away from her, crouching behind the centaur's legs, her head level with the house-elf's.**

**"I was and am the Dark Lord's most loyal servant. I learned the Dark Arts from him, and I know spells of such power that you, pathetic little girl, can never hope to compete."**

"That isn't the most powerful." Lily J said.

"Then what is?" Draco asked.

"You'll see." James said.

"**Stupefy!" yelled Cris. She had edged right around to where the goblin stood beaming up at the now headless wizard and taken aim at her back as she peered around the fountain. She reacted so fast she barely had time to duck.**

"**Protego!"**

**The jet of red light, her own Stunning Spell, bounced back at her. Cris scrambled back behind the fountain and one of the goblin's ears went flying across the room.**

"Well, your duel is destroying the statue piece by piece." Charlie said.

"Good, I never liked that statue." Amelia said.

**"Potter, I'm going to give you one chance!" shouted Bellatrix. "Give me the prophecy - roll it out towards me now - and I may spare your life!"**

**"Well, you're going to have to kill me, because it's gone!" Cris roared and, as she shouted it, pain seared across her forehead; her scar was on fire again, and she felt a surge of fury that was quite unconnected with her own rage. "And he knows!'" said Cris, with a mad laugh to match Bellatrix's own. "Your dear old mate Voldemort knows it's gone! He's not going to be happy with you, is he?"**

**"What? What do you mean?" she cried, and for the first time there was fear in her voice.**

"Well that's a first," Robin said.

"My dear cousin has never really been frightened, fear is a good thing." Sirius said.

**"The prophecy smashed when I was trying to get Neville up the steps! What do you think Voldemort'll say about that, then?"**

**Her scar seared and burned… the pain of it was making her eyes stream…**

**"LIAR!" she shrieked, but she could hear the terror behind the anger now. "YOU'VE GOT IT, POTTER, AND YOU WILL GIVE IT TO ME! Accio prophecy! ACCIO PROPHECY!"**

**Cris laughed again because she knew it would incense her, **

"Oh Cris, please don't anger her." Sirius said.

"I'll try not to, it is the future though." Cris said.

"Right,"

**the pain building in her head hurt so badly she thought her skull might burst. She waved her empty hand from behind the one-eared goblin and withdrew it quickly as she sent another jet of green light flying at her.**

Fred and George growled and held Cris tighter to them.

**"Nothing there!" she shouted. "Nothing to summon! It smashed and nobody heard what it said, tell your boss that!"**

**"No!" she screamed. "It isn't true, you're lying! MASTER, I TRIED, I TRIED - DO NOT PUNISH ME!"**

**"Don't waste your breath!" yelled Cris, her eyes screwed up against the pain in her scar, now more terrible than ever. "He can't hear you from here!"**

**"Can't I, Potter?" said a high, cold voice.**

"Damnit," the room swore.

"Get out of there!" Mrs. Weasley and Lily shouted.

**Cris opened her eyes.**

**Tall, thin and black-hooded, his terrible snakelike face white and gaunt, his scarlet, slit-pupilled eyes staring… Lord Voldemort had appeared in the middle of the hall, his wand pointing at Cris who stood frozen, quite unable to move.**

"Just get out of there." Sirius begged.

**"So, you smashed my prophecy?" said Voldemort softly, staring at Cris with those pitiless red eyes. "No, Bella, he is not lying… I see the truth looking at me from within her worthless mind… months of preparation, months of effort… and my Death Eaters have let Cristal Potter thwart me again."**

"More like his idiocy." Percy said.

"That sounds about right." Padfoot said.

**"Master, I am sorry I knew not, I was fighting the Animagus Black!" sobbed Bellatrix, flinging herself down at Voldemort's feet as he paced slowly nearer. "Master, you should know."**

**"Be quiet, Bella," said Voldemort dangerously. "I shall deal with you in a moment. Do you think I have entered the Ministry of Magic to hear your sniveling apologies?"**

**"But Master - he is here - he is below."**

**Voldemort paid no attention.**

**"I have nothing more to say to you, Potter," he said quietly. "You have irked me too often, for too long. AVADA KEDAVRA!"**

**Cris had not even opened her mouth to resist; her mind was blank, her wand pointing uselessly at the floor. **

"Snap out of it!" cried the room.

**But the headless golden statue of the wizard in the fountain had sprung alive, leaping from its plinth to land with a crash on the floor between Cris and Voldemort. The spell merely glanced off its chest as the statue flung out its arms to protect Cris.**

"What?" the room asked.

"Either someone spelled it to do that or it is spelled to protect wizards from dark wizards." Charlie said.

"If it was the latter wouldn't it have done that by now?" George asked.

"Okay, so maybe it was the first one." Charlie said.

**"What -?" cried Voldemort, staring around. And then he breathed, "Dumbledore!"**

"Good, you're there." Remus said breathing a sigh of relief.

**Cris looked behind her, her heart pounding. Dumbledore was standing in front of the golden gates.**

**Voldemort raised his wand and another jet of green light streaked at Dumbledore, who turned and was gone in a whirling of his cloak. Next second, he had reappeared behind Voldemort and waved his wand towards the remnants of the fountain. The other statues sprang to life. **

"This should be an interesting duel." Bill said.

**The statue of the witch ran at Bellatrix, who screamed and sent spells streaming uselessly off its chest, before it dived at her, pinning her to the floor.**

**Meanwhile, the goblin and the house-elf scuttled towards the fireplaces set along the wall and the one-armed centaur galloped at Voldemort, who vanished and reappeared beside the pool. The headless statue thrust Cris backwards, away from the fight, as Dumbledore advanced on Voldemort and the golden centaur cantered around them both.**

**"It was foolish to come here tonight, Tom," said Dumbledore calmly. "The Aurors are on their way."**

**"By which time I shall be gone, and you will be dead!" spat Voldemort. **

"That won't happen." Ron said.

"I am mortal, and our friends from the future did say that I do die." Dumbledore said.

"But not this year." Keiran said.

**He sent another killing curse at Dumbledore but missed, instead hitting the security guard's desk, which burst into flame.**

**Dumbledore flicked his own wand: the force of the spell that emanated from it was such that Cris, though shielded by her golden guard, felt her hair stand on end as it passed and this time Voldemort was forced to conjure a shining silver shield out of thin air to deflect it. The spell, whatever it was, caused no visible damage to the shield, though a deep, gong-like note reverberated from it - an oddly chilling sound.**

"What spell is that?" Hermione asked.

"I do not know, it could be any number of spells." Dumbledore said.

**"You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore?" called Voldemort, his scarlet eyes narrowed over the top of the shield. "Above such brutality, are you?"**

**"We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom," Dumbledore said calmly, continuing to walk towards Voldemort as though he had not a fear in the world, as though nothing had happened to interrupt his stroll up the hall. "Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit"**

**"There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" snarled Voldemort.**

"Not true, living on when those you love are dead is bad but knowing you'll see them again is what you look forward too." Mrs. Weasley said.

**"You are quite wrong," said Dumbledore, still closing in upon Voldemort and speaking as lightly as though they were discussing the matter over drinks. Cris felt scared to see him walking along, undefended, shield less; she wanted to cry out a warning, but her headless guard kept shunting her backwards towards the wall, blocking her every attempt to get out from behind it. **

"Thank Merlin for that." Lily said.

**"Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness."**

**Another jet of green light flew from behind the silver shield. This time it was the one-armed centaur, galloping in front of Dumbledore, that took the blast and shattered into a hundred pieces, but before the fragments had even hit the floor, Dumbledore had drawn back his wand and waved it as though brandishing a whip. A long thin flame flew from the tip; it wrapped itself around Voldemort, shield and all. For a moment, it seemed Dumbledore had won, but then the fiery rope became a serpent, which relinquished its hold on Voldemort at once and turned, hissing furiously, to face Dumbledore.**

**Voldemort vanished; the snake reared from the floor, ready to strike.**

**There was a burst of flame in midair above Dumbledore just as Voldemort reappeared, standing on the plinth in the middle of the pool where so recently the five statues had stood.**

"But isn't Cris backed up against the fountain?" Ginny asked.

"I don't think so. I think she is up against a wall." Moony said.

**"Look out!" Cris yelled.**

**But even as she shouted, another jet of green light flew at Dumbledore from Voldemort's wand and the snake had struck.**

**Fawkes swooped down in front of Dumbledore, opened his beak wide and swallowed the jet of green light whole: he burst into flame and fell to the floor, small, wrinkled and flightless.**

"So phoenix's can survive the killing curse?" Padfoot aske.d

"It appears so." Dumbledore said.

**At the same moment, Dumbledore brandished his wand in one long, fluid movement - the snake, which had been an instant from sinking its fangs into him, flew high into the air and vanished in a wisp of dark smoke; and the water in the pool rose up and covered Voldemort like a cocoon of molten glass.**

"Wow," Gwen said.

**For a few seconds Voldemort was visible only as a dark, rippling, faceless figure, shimmering and indistinct upon the plinth, clearly struggling to throw off the suffocating mass.**

**Then he was gone and the water fell with a crash back into its pool, slopping wildly over the sides, drenching the polished floor.**

**"MASTER!" screamed Bellatrix.**

"Where did he go?" Cris asked.

"I don't know." Remus said.

**Sure it was over, sure Voldemort had decided to flee, Cris made to run out from behind her statue guard, but Dumbledore bellowed: "Stay where you are, Cris!"**

"Listen to him," cried half the room.

**For the first time, Dumbledore sounded frightened. **

Nobody could imagine Dumbledore being frightened of anything so Luna continued.

**Cris could not see why: the hall was quite empty but for themselves, the sobbing Bellatrix still trapped under the witch statue, and the baby phoenix Fawkes croaking feebly on the floor **

**And then Cris' scar burst open and she knew she was dead: it was pain beyond imagining, pain past endurance. **

"What's happening?" Cris asked wide eyed.

"I believe Voldemort is trying to possess you." Dumbledore said calmly. Cris whimpered and Fred and George held her tighter as they listened to the chapter.

**She was gone from the hall, she was locked in the coils of a creature with red eyes, so tightly bound that Cris did not know where her body ended and the creature's began: they were fused together, bound by pain, and there was no escape.**

**And when the creature spoke, it used Cris' mouth, so that in her agony she felt her jaw move "Kill me now, Dumbledore…"**

"Please don't listen to him." Lily begged.

"I would never," Dumbledore said.

**Blinded and dying, every part of her screaming for release, Cris felt the creature use her again…**

**"If death is nothing, Dumbledore, kill the girl…"**

**Let the pain stop, thought Cris… let him kill us… end it, Dumbledore… death is nothing compared to this… **

**And she would see her parents again…**

**And as Cris' heart filled with emotion, the creature's coils loosened, the pain was gone; Cris was lying face down on the floor, shivering as though she lay upon ice, not wood…**

"How did I do that?" Cris asked wide-eyed.

"Love, Cris, he doesn't understand it, you do. That is where you are different." Dumbledore said.

"Love saves everything." Lily said.

**And there were voices echoing through the hall, more voices than there should have been…**

**Cris opened her eyes saw her wand lying by the heal of the statue that was guarding her, but which now lay flat on its back, cracked and immobile. She grabbed it and raised her head a little to find Dumbledore's crooked nose inches from her own.**

**"Are you all right, Cris?"**

**"Yes," said Cris, shaking so violently she could not hold her head up properly. "Yeah, I'm - where's Voldemort, where - who are all these - what's –"**

**The Atrium was full of people; the floor was reflecting the emerald green flames that had burst into life in all the fireplaces along one wall; and streams of witches and wizards were emerging from them. As Dumbledore pulled her back to her feet, Cris saw the tiny gold statues of the house-elf and the goblin, leading a stunned-looking Cornelius Fudge forward.**

"Well now I guess I'll believe you." Fudge said for the first time in a while.

"You won't have a choice but to believe me." Cris said.

**"He was there!" shouted a scarlet-robed man with a ponytail, who was pointing at a pile of golden rubble on the other side of the hall, where Bellatrix had lain trapped only moments before. "I saw him, Mr. Fudge, I swear it was You-Know-Who, he grabbed a woman and Disapparated!"**

"Damnit," Sirius swore.

**"I know, Williamson, I know, I saw him too!" gibbered Fudge, who was wearing pajamas under his pinstriped cloak and was gasping as though he had just run miles. "Merlin's beard -here- here! - in the Ministry of Magic! - great heavens above - it doesn't seem possible - my word - how can this be -?"**

"Because you were blinded by your fear and didn't want to believe it at first. And when you do he already regained much of his forces." Remus said.

"So it's the Ministry's fault that the war got as bad as it did?" Lily asked.

"Yep," Sirius said.

**"If you proceed downstairs into the Department of Mysteries, Cornelius," said Dumbledore - apparently satisfied that Cris was all right, and walking forwards so that the newcomers realized he was there for the first time (a few of them raised their wands; others simply looked amazed; the statues of the elf and goblin applauded and Fudge jumped so much that his slipper clad feet left the floor) - "you will find several escaped Death Eaters contained in the Death Chamber, bound by an Anti-Disapparation Jinx and awaiting your decision as to what to do with them." **

"Wow, and my father is one of them. I wonder how Fudge will react." Draco said.

"It would certainly be interesting." Luna said.

**"Dumbledore!" gasped Fudge, beside himself with amazement. "You-here-I-I."**

**He looked wildly around at the Aurors he had brought with him and it could not have been clearer that he was in half a mind to cry, "Seize him!"**

"I don't think I would." Fudge said.

**"Cornelius, I am ready to fight your men - and win, again!" said Dumbledore in a thunderous voice. "But a few minutes ago you saw proof, with your own eyes, that I have been telling you the truth for a year. Lord Voldemort has returned, you have been chasing the wrong man for twelve months, and it is time - you listened to sense!"**

"And now I am." Fudge said quietly.

**"I - don't – well" blustered Fudge, looking around as though hoping somebody was going to tell him what to do. When nobody did, he said, "Very well - Dawlish! Williamson! Go down to the Department of Mysteries and see… Dumbledore, you - you will need to tell me exactly - the Fountain of Magical Brethren - what happened?" he added in a kind of whimper, staring around at the floor, where the remains of the statues of the witch, wizard and centaur now lay scattered.**

"Good riddance, if you ask me." Amelia said.

**"We can discuss that after I have sent Cris back to Hogwarts," said Dumbledore.**

**"Cris - Cristal Potter?"**

**Fudge wheeled around and stared at Cris, who was still standing against the wall beside the fallen statue that had guarded her during Dumbledore and Voldemort's duel.**

**"He - here?" said Fudge, goggling at Cris. "Why - what's all this about?"**

"Things that could've and should've been avoided." Lily said angrily.

**"I shall explain everything," repeated Dumbledore, "when Cris is back at school."**

**He walked away from the pool to the place where the golden wizard's head lay on the floor. He pointed his wand at it and muttered, "Portus." **

"Another portkey." Cris said shuddering, she really hated traveling that way.

"It is faster." Fred said.

"I know," Cris said.

**The head glowed blue and trembled noisily against the wooden floor for a few seconds, then became still once more.**

**"Now see here, Dumbledore!" said Fudge, as Dumbledore picked up the head and walked back to Cris carrying it. "You haven't got authorization for that Portkey! You can't do things like that right in front of the Minister for Magic, you – you."**

"You see I don't think he cares about those threats now." Bill said.

"I don't think so either." Tonks said.

**His voice faltered as Dumbledore surveyed him magisterially over his half-moon spectacles.**

**"You will give the order to remove Dolores Umbridge from Hogwarts,"**

"The Centaurs did it for you." George said with a laugh.

"I don't think I heard that just yet." Dumbledore said with a laugh.

**said Dumbledore. "You will tell your Aurors to stop searching for my Care of Magical Creatures teacher so that he can return to work. I will give you…" Dumbledore pulled a watch with twelve hands from his pocket and surveyed it… "half an hour of my time tonight, in which I think we shall be more than able to cover the important points of what has happened here. After that, I shall need to return to my school. If you need more help from me you are, of course, more than welcome to contact me at Hogwarts. Letters addressed to the Headmaster will find me."**

"At least your humor is still intact." Prongs said.

"My humor will forever be intact." Dumbledore said.

**Fudge goggled worse than ever; his mouth was open and his round face grew pinker under his rumpled grey hair.**

"I really should just learn to accept it." Fudge murmured to nobody in particular.

**"I - you."**

**Dumbledore turned his back on him.**

**"Take this Portkey, Cris."**

**He held out the golden head of the statue and Cris placed her hand on it, past caring what she did next or where she went.**

"You were probably just running out of adrenaline." Remus said.

"Probably," Cris said.

**"I shall see you in half an hour," said Dumbledore quietly. "One… two… three…"**

**Cris felt the familiar sensation of a hook being jerked behind her navel. The polished wooden floor was gone from beneath her feet; the Atrium, Fudge and Dumbledore had all disappeared and she was flying forwards in a whirlwind of color and sound… **

"That's the chapter." Luna said. She handed the book to Draco.

"I think we should take a break for lunch then, this is a good place to stop." Mrs. Weasley said. Cris looked thankful towards her, she wanted a break after she found out she was possessed by Voldemort. Mrs. Weasley and most of the girls in the room went off to help prepare for lunch and Fred and George gave her a kiss each before they left for the bathroom.

"I can't believe that happened." Cris muttered. Sirius heard her and wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly.

"We are going to change everything, alight Prongslet, you're going to have a family you deserve by the time all this is done with." Sirius said. Cris nodded and just cuddled against her godfather.


	41. Chapter 37: The Lost Prophecy

Cris sat there on the couch lost in thought when she felt someone sit next to her. She looked over to see Ginny sitting next to her. Ginny handed a plate with shepherd's pie on it.

"Are you okay?" Ginny asked.

"Not really, is this how you felt when you found out you were being possessed?" Cris asked.

"I guess, I was scared I know that." Ginny said.

"He was trying to get Dumbledore to kill me." Cris mumbled.

"Don't worry, none of this will happen. Now, let's eat up so we can finish this book." Ginny said. Cris nodded and the two ate in silence and before too long the group gathered to continue reading and hopefully finishing this book.

"**Chapter 37: The Lost Prophecy," **Draco read.

"So we finally find out what it's about." Lily said. Cris sat up as straight as she could from between Fred and George.

**Cris' feet hit solid ground; her knees buckled a little and the golden wizard's head fell with are sounding dunk to the floor. She looked around and saw that she had arrived in Dumbledore's office.**

**Everything seemed to have repaired itself during the Headmaster's absence. The delicate silver instruments stood once more on the spindle-legged tables, puffing and whirring serenely the portraits of the headmasters and headmistresses were snoozing in their frames, heads lolling back in armchairs or against the edge of the picture. Cris looked through the window. There was a cool line of pale green along the horizon: dawn was approaching.**

"You were up all night." Lily said.

"We must be exhausted." Hermione said.

"Yeah," Ginny said.

**The silence and the stillness, broken only by the occasional grunt or snuffle of a sleeping portrait, was unbearable to her. If her surroundings could have reflected the feelings inside her, the pictures would have been screaming in pain. She walked around the quiet, beautiful office, breathing quickly, trying not to think. But she had to think… there was no escape… **

**It was her fault Emmeline was dead, her fault that Sirius got hurt.**

"No Cris, it wasn't your fault it was my deranged cousin's fault." Sirius said.

"And this won't happen." Robin said.

"Right," Sirius said.

**If she, Cris, had not been stupid enough to fall for Voldemort's trick, if she had not been so convinced that what she had seen in her dream was real, if she had only opened her mind to the possibility that Voldemort was, as Hermione had said, banking on Cris' love of playing the hero…**

"Don't blame yourself; many people have fallen for his tricks." Remus said.

"But how did he know that?" Cris asked.

"Probably when you had the vision about my attack." Mr. Weasley said. Cris nodded, that would make sense.

"Or it was during the third task." Tonks said.

"Both of those are good possibilities but I am thinking the first year incident." Lily said.

"That's a more likely possibility." Dumbledore said.

**She should have listened, but she was thankful that Sirius wasn't too badly hurt. She knew it was probably selfish but she didn't want anything to happen to Sirius. She just found him and she didn't want to lose the only father figure she had in her life.**

"You really see me like that?" Sirius asked. Cris looked up at him, her green eyes connecting with his grey.

"I do, sorry dad." Cris said.

"I understand, I'm glad that someone is there for you." Prongs said.

**A picture behind her gave a particularly loud grunting snore, and a cool voice said, "Ah… Cristal Potter…"**

**Phineas Nigellus**

"Great, what does he want?" Sirius asked.

"Who knows." Keiran said.

"He's so annoying." Scarlett said.

"He hates us because we've 'destroyed the Black pureblood status,' or whatever he feels like calling us." Keiran said.

"My mother would be rolling in her grave." Sirius said with a laugh.

**gave a long yawn, stretching his arms as he surveyed Cris out of shrewd, narrow eyes.**

**"And what brings you here in the early hours of the morning?" said Phineas eventually "This office is supposed to be barred to all but the rightful Headmaster. Or has Dumbledore sent you here? Oh, don't tell me…" He gave another shuddering yawn. "Another message for my worthless great-great-grandson?"**

**So he didn't know that Sirius wasn't at home or that he was hurt. She didn't want to tell him or that a member of the Order was killed. **

"He wouldn't care." Sirius said.

"I think you'd be surprised." Dumbledore said.

"I doubt that." Sirius said.

**A few more of the portraits had stirred now. Terror of being interrogated made Cris stride across the room and seize the doorknob.**

**It would not turn. She was shut in.**

"Oh come one Albus, give her a break." Robin said.

"I think I'm going to be explaining everything to her." Dumbledore said.

"It's about damn time." Sirius said.

**"I hope this means," said the corpulent, red-nosed wizard who hung on the wall behind the Headmaster's desk, "that Dumbledore will soon be back among us?"**

**Cris turned. The wizard was surveying her with great interest. Cris nodded. She tugged again on the doorknob behind her back, but it remained immovable.**

**"Oh good," said the wizard. "It has been very dull without him, very dull indeed."**

"That would suck to be all alone with no one to talk to accept the other portraits." Tonks said.

**He settled himself on the throne-like chair on which he had been painted and smiled benignly upon Cris. **

**"Dumbledore thinks very highly of you, as I am sure you know," he said comfortably. "Oh yes. Holds you in great esteem."**

**The guilt filling the whole of Cris' chest like some monstrous, weighty parasite, now writhed and squirmed. Cris could not stand this, she felt like she didn't want to deal with Voldemort anymore.**

"I don't blame you." Remus said.

**The empty fireplace burst into emerald green flame, making Cris leap away from the door, staring at the man spinning inside the grate. As Dumbledore's tall form unfolded itself from the fire, the wizards and witches on the surrounding walls jerked awake, many of them giving cries of welcome. Sirius soon followed after him, his chest still wrapped and bloody but Cris couldn't help but rush towards him and hug him. **

**"Thank you," said Dumbledore softly.**

**He did not look at Cris at first, **

Sirius glared at the book and at Dumbledore though he hoped that the reason will be coming soon.

**but walked over to the perch beside the door and withdrew, from an inside pocket of his robes, the tiny, ugly, featherless Fawkes, whom he placed gently on the tray of soft ashes beneath the golden post where the full-grown Fawkes usually stood. Sirius led Cris to the chairs where they sat though Cris didn't want to go far from Sirius, she just wanted to make sure that this wasn't a dream, though she hoped it was and that nobody would've been hurt or Emmeline killed. **

"Anybody would think like that." Lily said.

"I did the night Prongs and Lily were killed." Sirius said.

"Me too," Remus and Robin said.

"**Well, Cris," said Dumbledore, finally turning away from the baby bird, "you will be pleased to hear that none of your fellow students are going to suffer lasting damage from the night's events."**

"That's not true," Teddy said.

"What do you mean?" Cris asked wide-eyed.

"Aunt Hermione had a hard time getting pregnant." Lily J said.

"She had at least two miscarriages before Rose and one in between her and Hugo and another two before the new baby." James said. Hermione went wide eyed and had tears in her eyes.

"But it's not all from the curse." Keiran said.

"What else happened to us?" Ron asked.

"What we're talking about doesn't happen until your seventh year." Scarlett said. Scarlett nodded to Draco and he continued reading.

**Cris tried to say, "Good," but no sound came out. It seemed to him that Dumbledore was reminding her of the amount of damage she had caused, and although Dumbledore was for once looking at her directly, and although his expression was kindly rather than accusatory, Cris could not bear to meet his eyes.**

**"Madam Pomfrey is patching everybody up," said Dumbledore. "Nymphadora Tonks may need to spend a little time in St. Mungo's, but it seems she will make a full recovery. Sirius, you should really go to her as well."**

"**Once you are done with Cris I will." said Sirius. Dumbledore could only nod and Cris gave her godfather a grateful look. **

Tonks was glaring at the headmaster for using her full name while Cris smiled at her godfather who was smiling back at her.

**Cris decided to nod at the carpet, which was growing lighter as the sky outside grew paler. She was sure all the portraits around the room were listening closely to every word Dumbledore spoke, wondering where Dumbledore and Cris had been, and why there had been injuries. And probably why Sirius was there as well.**

**"I know how you're feeling, Cris," said Dumbledore very quietly.**

**"No, you don't," said Cris, and her voice was suddenly loud and strong; white-hot anger leapt inside her; Dumbledore knew nothing about her feelings.**

"I might not know exactly how you are feeling but I know the general emotion." Dumbledore said. "But I can certainly empathize with you."

**"You see, Dumbledore?" said Phineas Nigellus slyly "Never try to understand the students. They hate it. They would much rather be tragically misunderstood, wallow in self-pity, stew in their own -"**

"Oh shut up," Padfoot said.

"**Shut up Phineas." Sirius snapped tiredly. **

"You don't change much." Prongs said.

"I would hope not." Padfoot said.

**"That's enough, Phineas, Sirius" said Dumbledore.**

**Cris didn't look at Dumbledore; instead she looked outside the window towards the Quidditch Pitch. She missed flying, flying brought her back to the night Remus, Emmeline, Tonks, Kingsley and the rest of the guard came and got her from Privet Drive. That brought her to think about Quidditch and if she flew as well as her dad, she would have to ask Sirius later.**

"You flew better than your dad." Sirius said with a smile. Prongs looked proud at his daughter; he was okay with her being better than him.

"**There is no shame in what you are feeling, Cris," said Dumbledore's voice. "On the contrary… the fact that you can feel pain like this is your greatest strength."**

"It shows that you can love." Remus said. Cris smiled though it was a little forced.

**Cris felt the white-hot anger lick her insides, blazing in the terrible emptiness, filling her with the desire to hurt Dumbledore for his calmness and his empty words.**

**"My greatest strength, is it?" said Cris, her voice shaking as she stared out at the Quidditch stadium, no longer seeing it. "You haven't got a clue… you don't know…" **

"**Cris, it's okay to be angry, but be angry at the right people." Sirius said. **

"**I am angry at Voldemort, he sent me that fake vision and it got Emmeline killed and you almost died." Cris said wiping her eyes from the tears that were about ready to fall. **

"It's okay to cry you know." Lily said.

"I know, but I rarely cry." Cris said.

"And it's scary when you do." Ron said.

"You think it's always scary when girls cry." Charlie said.

"I don't know what to do!" Ron exclaimed.

"Be a shoulder to cry on, we're good for that." George said.

"**What don't I know?" Dumbledore asked calmly.**

"**You don't know what it felt like, when Voldemort possessed me. I wanted to die, and then I thought of my parents." Cris said. Sirius flinched slightly and he looked like he wanted to hold her to him and never let her go. **

"You're a good godfather and will be a fantastic father." Robin said kissing him.

"I try my best." Sirius said.

"**Cris, suffering like this proves you're still alive. This pain is part of being human!" said Dumbledore. **

**"THEN - I - DON'T - WANT - TO - BE - HUMAN! Everything could have been prevented if I just mastered Occlumency like you wanted." Cris shouted tears actually falling from her eyes. She felt arms surround her and knew Sirius had gathered her in his arms. **

"Everyone feels that way after something like this happens." Lily said. Cris nodded and motioned for Draco to continue reading.

**Several of the pictures let out yells of anger and fright, and the portrait of Armando Dippet said, "Really!"**

"**I've had enough, I've seen enough, I want out, I want it to end, I don't care anymore!" Cris sobbed as Sirius held her to him. **

"Promise me that when we get back she won't have to grow up so fast." Lily said tears running down her face.

"I promise Lils, our children will have a wonderful childhood." Prongs said.

"Thank you," Lily murmured. Prongs kissed her temple as Draco continued.

**The table of silver instruments seemed to have thrown itself. It broke apart on the floor and the legs rolled in different directions. **

**"You do care," said Dumbledore. He had not flinched or made a single move to stop his instruments from flying and breaking. His expression was calm, almost detached. "You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it."**

"That's what makes you special." Fred said kissing her temple.

"Beyond special, it makes you, you." Ginny said.

"**I don't want to care!" Cris screamed so loudly that she felt her throat might tear, and for a second she wanted to rush at Dumbledore and break him too, she probably would have if Sirius hadn't been holding her as she cried. **

"**But you do," said Dumbledore still more calmly. "You've lost your mother, your father and almost lost Sirius. Of course you care." **

"**It's okay to feel like this Crisy, it makes you, you. Everything will work itself out." Sirius said.**

Dumbledore winced thinking that him and Cris have been through almost the same thing.

**But words were no longer enough, being comforted was no more help; she wanted to run, she wanted to keep running and go to Fred and George, they at least could help her forget what happened tonight. She jumped out of her chair and tried the door again, it still wouldn't budge. **

"**Just let her out Albus, she's been through enough already. You did this last year." Sirius said. **

"**She needs to know Sirius." Dumbledore said.**

"**So you're finally telling her." Sirius said, though he sounded bitter. **

"He's going to tell me the prophecy." Cris said.

"That he is. It's about time too." Sirius said.

"**Tell me what?" Cris asked. **

"**What happened tonight." Dumbledore said calmly.**

"**I know what happened; I got tricked by Voldemort all because he wanted that stupid prophecy." Cris said. **

"**I should tell you it's my fault Sirius got hurt and Emmeline got killed." Dumbledore said.**

"**What are you talking about?" Cris and Sirius asked.**

**"Or should I say, almost entirely my fault - I will not be so arrogant as to claim responsibility for the whole. Sirius you are a brave, clever and energetic man, and such men are not usually content to sit at home in hiding while they believe others to be in danger. Nevertheless, you should never have believed for an instant that there was any necessity for you to go to the Department of Mysteries tonight. If I had been open with you, Cris, as I should have been, you would have known a long time ago that Voldemort might try and lure you to the Department of Mysteries, and you would never have been tricked into going there tonight. And Sirius would not have had to come after you. That blame lies with me, and with me alone."**

"But if I had learned Occlumency then nothing would have happened." Cris said.

"It's not your fault, and it won't be your fault." Fred said.

**Cris was still standing with her hand on the doorknob but was unaware of it. She was gazing at Dumbledore and Sirius, hardly breathing, listening yet barely understanding what she was hearing.**

**"Please sit down," said Dumbledore. It was not an order, it was a request.**

**Cris hesitated, then walked slowly across the room now littered with silver cogs and fragments of wood, and took the seat facing Dumbledore's desk.**

**"Cris, I owe you an explanation," said Dumbledore. "An explanation of an old man's mistakes. For I see now that what I have done, and not done, with regard to you, bears all the hallmarks of the failings of age. Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young… and I seem to have forgotten, lately…"**

"Memory is weird that way, but youths will always act the same." Dumbledore said with a chuckle.

**The sun was rising properly now; there was a rim of dazzling orange visible over the mountains and the sky above it was colorless and bright. The light fell upon Dumbledore, upon the silver of his eyebrows and beard, upon the lines gouged deeply into his face.**

**"I guessed, fifteen years ago," said Dumbledore, "when I saw the scar on your forehead, what it might mean. I guessed that it might be the sign of a connection forged between you and Voldemort."**

**"You've told me this before, Professor," said Cris bluntly. Sirius sat down next to her, he didn't seemed surprised by that since she told him about her scar hurting last year.**

"But I didn't know it connected the two of you that way." Sirius said.

**"Yes," said Dumbledore apologetically. "Yes, but you see - it is necessary to start with your scar. For it became apparent, shortly after you rejoined the magical world, that I was correct, and that your scar was giving you warnings when Voldemort was close to you, or else feeling powerful emotion."**

**"I know," said Cris wearily.**

**"And this ability of yours - to detect Voldemort's presence, even when he is disguised, and to know what he is feeling when his emotions are roused - has become more and more pronounced since Voldemort returned to his own body and his full powers."**

**Cris did not bother to nod. She knew all of this already.**

"So why repeat it?" Gwen asked.

"So she can understand." Dumbledore said.

**"More recently" said Dumbledore, "I became concerned that Voldemort might realize that this connection between you exists. Sure enough, there came a time when you entered so far into his mind and thoughts that he sensed your presence. I am speaking, of course, of the night when you witnessed the attack on Mr. Weasley."**

"But it was good that she saw it because it saved Arthur." Mrs. Weasley said clenching Mr. Weasley's hand.

"Yes, in that instance it was good, but the other times it wasn't." Dumbledore said.

**"Yeah, Snape told me," Cris muttered.**

**"Professor Snape, Cris" Dumbledore corrected her quietly. "But did you not wonder why it was not I who explained this to you? Why I did not teach you Occlumency? Why I had not so much as looked at you for months?"**

**Cris looked up. She could see now that Dumbledore looked sad and tired.**

"**You've been what?" Sirius asked. But Dumbledore ignored him for now.**

Sirius glared at him and pouted.

**"Yeah," Cris mumbled. "Yeah, I wondered."**

**"You see," Dumbledore continued, "I believed it could not be long before Voldemort attempted to force his way into your mind, to manipulate and misdirect your thoughts, and I was not eager to give him more incentives to do so. I was sure that if he realized that our relationship was - or had ever been - closer than that of headmaster and pupil, he would seize his chance to use you as a means to spy on me. **

"Oh, I didn't think of that." Cris said.

"That makes sense." Remus said.

**I feared the uses to which he would put you, the possibility that he might try and possess you. Cris, I believe I was right to think that Voldemort would have made use of you in such a way. On those rare occasions when we had close contact, I thought I saw a shadow of him stir behind your eyes…"**

**Cris remembered the feeling that a dormant snake had risen in her, ready to strike, in those moments when she and Dumbledore had made eye-contact.**

"**Like he did tonight?" Cris asked quietly.**

"**Exactly like he did tonight." Dumbledore said.**

"**Voldemort did what now?" Sirius asked wide eyed. "He's not still in control is he?" **

"**No, Cris fought him back." Dumbledore said. Sirius sighed in relief and grabbed Cris again and held her as they continued to talk. **

"That is amazing that you fought him." Tonks said.

"I fought off the Imperius, it can't be that different." Cris said.

"It's a lot different though." Remus said.

"Oh," Cris said.

**"Voldemort's aim in possessing you, as he demonstrated tonight, would not have been my destruction. It would have been yours. He hoped, when he possessed you briefly a short while ago, that I would sacrifice you in the hope of killing him. So you see, I have been trying, in distancing myself from you, to protect you, Cris. An old man's mistake…" **

"Everyone makes mistakes sir, it's what makes us human." Lily said.

**He sighed deeply. Cris was letting the words wash over her. She would have been so interested to know all this a few months ago, but now it seemed meaningless, Sirius had almost lost his life…**

"You really should have told you at the end of fourth year, she could have handled it." Remus said.

"I could have handled it." Cris said.

"Let us see how you handle it when I tell you." Dumbledore said motioning towards the book.

**"Sirius told me you felt Voldemort awake inside you the very night that you had the vision of Arthur Weasley's attack. I knew at once that my worst fears were correct: Voldemort had realized he could use you. In an attempt to arm you against Voldemort's assaults on your mind, I arranged Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape."**

"Which did diddly squat." Gwen said.

"We taught her a lot better." Remus said.

"Cris, will you let Severus test it?" Dumbledore asked. Cris looked at the Potion's Master for a second and then nodded.

"But only at the end of this book." Cris said. Snape nodded as did Dumbledore.

**He paused. Cris watched the sunlight, which was sliding slowly across the polished surface of Dumbledore's desk; illuminate a silver ink pot and a handsome scarlet quill. Cris could tell that the portraits all around them were awake and listening raptly to Dumbledore's explanation; she could hear the occasional rustle of robes, the slight clearing of a throat. And Phineas still didn't say anything. **

"**But why did you ask him, I understand that you couldn't do it. Myself or Remus could have though." Sirius said.**

"**You couldn't have though, not with Dolores here in the school." Dumbledore said. Sirius sighed but nodded anyway.**

"Yeah, it would have been bad." Remus said.

**"Professor Snape discovered," Dumbledore resumed, "that you had been dreaming about the door to the Department of Mysteries for months. Voldemort, of course, had been obsessed with the possibility of hearing the prophecy ever since he regained his body; and as he dwelled on the door, so did you, though you did not know what it meant.**

"Now I know." Cris said.

**"And then you saw Rockwood, who worked in the Department of Mysteries before his arrest, telling Voldemort what we had known all along - that the prophecies held in the Ministry of Magic are heavily protected. Only the people to whom they refer can lift them from the shelves without suffering madness: in this case, either Voldemort himself would have to enter the Ministry of Magic, and risk revealing himself at last - or else you would have to take it for him. It became a matter of even greater urgency that you should master Occlumency."**

**"But I didn't," muttered Cris. She said it aloud to try and ease the dead weight of guilt inside her a confession must surely relieve some of the terrible pressure squeezing her heart. "I didn't practice, I didn't bother, I could've stopped myself having those dreams, Hermione kept telling me to do it, if I had he'd never have been able to show me where to go, and – Sirius wouldn't have been hurt…Emmeline wouldn't be dead." **

"It's not your fault," the group said.

"I know," Cris said quietly.

**Something was erupting inside Cris' head: a need to justify herself, to explain -**

**"I tried to check he'd really taken you, Sirius, I went to Umbridge's office, I spoke to Kreacher in the fire and he said you wasn't there, he said you'd gone!"**

**"Kreacher lied," said Dumbledore calmly. **

"**I was upstairs feeding Buckbeak. Robin and the baby were napping." Sirius said.**

"**What baby?" Cris asked suddenly.**

"**I tried to talk to you sooner, but I'll tell you after this alright?" Sirius asked. Cris nodded though she was really curious now.**

"How did I know that?" Tonks asked with a laugh.

"Because I'm a curious person." Cris said.

"Yep, that'll be it." Tonks said.

**"You are not his master; he could lie to you without even needing to punish himself. Kreacher intended you to go to the Ministry of Magic."**

**"He - he sent me on purpose?"**

**"Oh yes. Kreacher, I am afraid, has been serving more than one master for months."**

"**When I'm getting home I'm so going to give him his wish." Sirius said with a snarl.**

"**Don't be rash, Sirius, you can punish him but don't give him his wish." Dumbledore said.**

"Yeah, mum did something to him that changed him." James said.

"What did I do?" Cris asked.

"We can't spoil a surprise." Lily J said.

**"How?" said Cris blankly. "He hasn't been out of Grimmauld Place for years."**

**"Kreacher seized his opportunity shortly before Christmas," said Dumbledore, "when you, Sirius, apparently, shouted at him to 'get out'. He took you at his word, and interpreted this as an order to leave the house. **

"Okay, when I see him next I will order him to not leave the house at all." Sirius said.

"That's good," Dumbledore said, "who knows what he's told your cousins."

"I hope it wasn't much." Remus said.

**He went to the only Black family member for whom he had any respect left… Black's cousin Narcissa, sister of Bellatrix and wife of Lucius Malfoy"**

**"How do you know all this?" Cris said. Her heart was beating very fast. She felt sick. She remembered worrying about Kreacher's odd absence over Christmas, remembered him turning up again in the attic…**

**"Kreacher told me last night," said Dumbledore. "You see, when you gave Professor Snape that cryptic warning, he realized that you had had a vision of Sirius trapped in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries. **

**He, like you, attempted to contact Sirius at once. I should explain that members of the Order of the Phoenix have more reliable methods of communicating than the fire in Dolores Umbridge's office. Professor Snape found that Sirius was alive and safe in Grimmauld Place. **

"I should have found you after I found that out." Snape said.

"You didn't know we were in the forest though." Ginny said.

**"When, however, you did not return from your trip into the Forest with Dolores Umbridge, Professor Snape grew worried that you still believed Sirius to be a captive of Lord Voldemort's. He alerted certain Order members at once."**

**Dumbledore heaved a great sigh and continued, "Alastor Moody, Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Remus Lupin, Robin Lupin and Emmeline Vance were at Headquarters when he made contact. Robin stayed there because she just had a baby. **

"This is turning into the Romeo and Juliet story." Gwen said.

"I know, it's depressing." Hermione said.

"But it worked out alright, for the most part anyway." Lily said.

"Yeah," Cris said.

**All agreed to go to your aid at once. Professor Snape requested that Sirius remain behind, as he needed somebody to remain at Headquarters to tell me what had happened, for I was due there at any moment. In the meantime he, Professor Snape, intended to search the Forest for you.**

**"But Sirius did not wish to remain behind while the others went to search for you. He delegated to Robin the task of telling me what had happened. And so it was that when I arrived in Grimmauld Place shortly after they had all left for the Ministry, it was Kreacher who told me - laughing fit to burst - where Sirius had gone. Robin was upstairs feeding the baby."**

"**Damn you Kreacher." Sirius muttered.**

"Exactly what I was thinking." Robin said.

**"He was laughing?" said Cris in a hollow voice.**

**"Oh, yes," said Dumbledore. "You see, Kreacher was not able to betray us totally. He is not Secret Keeper for the Order, he could not give the Malfoy's our whereabouts, or tell them any of the Order's confidential plans that he had been forbidden to reveal. He was bound by the enchantments of his kind, which is to say that he could not disobey a direct order from his master, Sirius. But he gave Narcissa information of the sort that is very valuable to Voldemort, yet must have seemed much too trivial for Sirius to think of banning him from repeating it."**

**"Like what?" said Cris.**

**"Like the fact that the person Sirius cared most about in the world was you, now you and the baby," said Dumbledore quietly. "Like the fact that you were coming to regard Sirius as a mixture of father and brother."**

"**Is that true Cris?" Sirius asked calmly. Cris looked at him, she noticed that tears were threatening to fall, she never imagined Sirius crying, it was a scary thought. **

"**Yeah," Cris said looking down. **

"There's nothing wrong with that. That's what being a godfather is about." Sirius said. Fred and George nudged Cris and she went over to Sirius and sat with him for the rest of the book.

"**Voldemort knew already, of course, that Sirius was in the Order, and that you knew where he was - but Kreacher's information made him realize that the one person for whom you would go to any lengths to rescue was Sirius Black."**

**Cris' lips were cold and numb.**

**"So… when I asked Kreacher if Sirius was there last night…"**

**"The Malfoy's - undoubtedly on Voldemort's instructions - had told him he must find a way of keeping Sirius out of the way once you had seen the vision of Sirius being tortured. Then, if you decided to check whether Sirius was at home or not, Kreacher would be able to pretend he was not. Kreacher injured Buckbeak the Hippogriff yesterday, and, at the moment when you made your appearance in the fire, Sirius was upstairs tending to him."**

"**That damned elf, why can't I give him what he wishes?" Sirius asked as he held Cris. **

"**He still has his uses, Sirius." Dumbledore said calmly.**

"And he is a major part of the story." Al said.

"Really?" Sirius and Padfoot asked.

"Yep," Keiran said.

**There seemed to be very little air in Cris' lungs; her breathing was quick and shallow.**

**"And Kreacher told you all this… and laughed?" she croaked.**

**"He did not wish to tell me," said Dumbledore. "But I am a sufficiently accomplished Legilimens myself to know when I am being lied to and I - persuaded him - to tell me the full story, before I left for the Department of Mysteries."**

"Well, that's one way to get the information." Ron said.

"Probably the most pain freeway there is." Snape said.

**"And," whispered Cris, her hands curled in cold fists on her knees, "and Hermione kept telling us to be nice to him." **

"You should still be nice, you never know, he could change." Hermione said.

"I highly doubt that." Sirius said.

"You'd be surprised dad." Keiran said.

"You mean to tell me he's still alive?" Robin asked.

"Well no, he died a few months ago." Scarlett said.

**"She was quite right, Cris," said Dumbledore. "I warned you, Sirius when we adopted twelve Grimmauld Place as our Headquarters that Kreacher must be treated with kindness and respect. I also told you that Kreacher could be dangerous to us. I do not think you took me very seriously, or that you ever saw Kreacher as a being with feelings as acute as a human's."**

"**That's because we've hated each other for as long as I can remember." Sirius said. **

"You should try being nice to him, you'd be surprised what happens." Scarlett said.

"Really?" Padfoot asked.

"Really, why would we lie?" Keiran asked.

"**Don't blame Sirius, the blame is for almost everyone." Cris said quietly. Cris' breath was constricted, she couldn't find the right words but she was angry at Dumbledore for blaming Sirius.**

**"Kreacher is what he has been made by wizards, Cris" said Dumbledore. "Yes, he is to be pitied. His existence has been as miserable as your friend Dobby's. He was forced to do Sirius's bidding, because Sirius was the last of the family to which he was enslaved, but he felt no true loyalty to him. And whatever Kreacher's faults, it must be admitted that Sirius did nothing to make Kreacher's lot easier."**

"**He's treated me the same way ever since I can remember. So I treat him like that." Sirius said tensely. **

"**But what about Snape, when I told him I saw Sirius in the Department of Mysteries all he did was sneer at me like usual." Cris said.**

"Isn't obvious? He's a spy; he has to play his part." Tonks said.

"I think it's obvious that I'm really tired." Cris said.

**"Cris, you know Professor Snape had no choice but to pretend not to take you seriously in front of Dolores Umbridge," said Dumbledore steadily, "but as I have explained, he informed the Order as soon as possible about what you had said. It was he who deduced where you had gone when you did not return from the Forest. It was he, too, who gave Professor Umbridge fake Veritaserum when she was attempting to force you to tell her Sirius's whereabouts."**

"Well, at least it was fake, it's still a good thing you didn't drink any." Tonks said.

"**I didn't drink it anyway, she turned her back to me that day, I had a feeling she was spiking it with something." Cris said. Sirius smiled proudly at her and she smiled back. **

"**"Snape - Snape g - goaded Sirius about staying in the house - he made out Sirius was a coward."**

**"Sirius was much too old and clever to have allowed such feeble taunts to hurt him," said Dumbledore.**

"**I'm not that old," Sirius said, "besides we've been like that since we've first met on the train. Though I did feel useless." **

"You won't be useless for long, you are pardoned." Amelia said. Sirius smiled the biggest smile he had in a long time.

**"Snape stopped giving me Occlumency lessons!" Cris snapped. "He threw me out of his office!"**

**"I am aware of it," said Dumbledore heavily "I have already said that it was a mistake for me not to teach you myself, though I was sure, at the time, that nothing could have been more dangerous than to open your mind even further to Voldemort while in my presence –"**

**"Snape made it worse, my scar always hurt worse after lessons with him" Cris remembered Ron's thoughts on the subject and plunged on "- how do you know he wasn't trying to soften me up for Voldemort, make it easier for him to get inside my –"**

**"I trust Severus Snape," said Dumbledore simply "But I forgot - another old man's mistake - that some wounds run too deep for the healing. I thought Professor Snape could overcome his feelings about your father - I was wrong." **

"**After everything we did to him, I'm surprised he allowed her to be in his presence alone." Sirius muttered.**

**"But that's okay, is it?" yelled Cris, ignoring the scandalized faces and disapproving mutterings of the portraits on the walls. "It's okay for Snape to hate my dad, but it's not okay for Sirius to hate Kreacher?"**

**"Sirius did not hate Kreacher," said Dumbledore.**

"Yes I do," Sirius said.

"**Yes I do," Sirius snapped. **

**"You regarded him as a servant unworthy of much interest or notice. Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike… the fountain we destroyed tonight told a lie. We wizards have mistreated and abused our fellows for too long, and we are now reaping our reward."**

"**Okay, I admit I've treated him wrongly, if I suddenly changed on him he might have a heart attack." Sirius said. **

"That might be true," Padfoot said.

"**Are you saying he deserved to almost get killed tonight?" Cris asked heatedly. **

**"I did not say that, nor will you ever hear me say it," Dumbledore replied quietly. "Sirius is not a cruel man, he is kind to house-elves in general. He had no love for Kreacher, because Kreacher was a living reminder of the home Sirius hates."**

**"Yeah, he did hate it!" said Cris, her voice cracking, turning to the window to watch the sun continue rising. "You made him stay shut up in that house and he hated it, that's why he wanted to get out last night."**

**"I was trying to keep Sirius alive," said Dumbledore quietly.**

"**And I appreciate that, but I didn't like being locked up, it reminds me too much of Azkaban." Sirius said. **

"Exactly, it would have been better if I stayed in a house in the country, it would have been a lot better for me." Sirius said.

"That does sound nice." Robin said with a smile.

**"People don't like being locked up!" Cris said furiously, rounding on him. "You did it to me all last summer!"**

**Dumbledore closed his eyes and buried his face in his long fingered hands. Cris watched him, but this uncharacteristic sign of exhaustion, or sadness, or whatever it was from Dumbledore, did not soften her. On the contrary, she felt even angrier that Dumbledore was showing signs of weakness. He had no business being weak when Cris wanted to rage and storm at him.**

**Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Cris through his half-moon glasses.**

**"It is time," he said, "for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Cris." **

"**So you could have told her in first year yet you withheld it from her?" Sirius asked furiously. **

"I agree, you really should have told her when she first asked." Lily said.

"We would have told her if she asked us." Prongs said.

"I wanted her to have a little more time as a child." Dumbledore said.

"No offence sir, but ever since I got to the Dursley's my childhood went out the window." Cris said.

"I see that now, and I am sorry." Dumbledore said.

"Can we just finish this please?" Draco asked. The group nodded and he continued.

"**I am going to tell you everything. I ask only a little patience. You will have your chance to rage at me - to do whatever you like - when I have finished. I will not stop you." **

**Cris glared at him for a moment, then settled herself back into the chair opposite Dumbledore and waited with Sirius' hand on her shoulder.**

**Dumbledore stared for a moment at the sunlit grounds outside the window, then looked back at Cris and said, "Five years ago you arrived at Hogwarts, Cris, safe and whole, as I had planned and intended. Well - not quite whole. You had suffered. I knew you would when I left you on your aunt and uncle's doorstep. I knew I was condemning you to ten dark and difficult years." **

"You knew she was abused?" Lily hissed dangerously.

"I did not, I knew she wasn't treated well but that is all I knew." Dumbledore said.

**He paused. Cris said nothing.**

**"You might ask - and with good reason - why it had to be so. Why could some wizarding family not have taken you in? Many would have done so more than gladly, would have been honored and delighted to raise you as a daughter.**

"We would've, she would have been well loved." Mrs. Weasley said.

"My parents would have too; I would have loved to have a little sister." Tonks said. "My mum would've let Remus come and visit as well."

"I admit, that would have been a lot better than what she had." Dumbledore said.

"She would have been safer at Andromeda's. My mum is a Black, closest family and everything." Prongs said.

"My mum was a Black as well." Mr. Weasley said.

"Right, I forgot about that." Prongs said.

**"My answer is that my priority was to keep you alive. You were in more danger than perhaps anyone but I realized. Voldemort had been vanquished hours before, but his supporters - and many of them are almost as terrible as he - were still at large, angry, desperate and violent. And I had to make my decision, too, with regard to the years ahead. Did I believe that Voldemort was gone forever? No. I knew not whether it would be ten, twenty or fifty years before he returned, but I was sure he would do so, and I was sure, too, knowing him as I have done, that he would not rest until he killed you.**

"That seems about right." Cris said.

**"I knew that Voldemort's knowledge of magic is perhaps more extensive than any wizard alive. I knew that even my most complex and powerful protective spells and charms were unlikely to be invincible if he ever returned to full power.**

**"But I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic of which he knows, which he despises, and which he has always, therefore, underestimated - to his cost. I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection he never expected, a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative."**

"What about my cousins?" Lily asked.

"What cousins?" Prongs asked.

"I have a younger cousin; his father is my father's brother. Though he does not have magical blood." Lily said.

"I didn't not think to check further family members, I am sorry." Dumbledore said.

**"She doesn't love me," said Cris at once. "She doesn't give a damn -"**

**"But she took you," Dumbledore cut across her. "She may have taken you grudgingly, furiously, unwillingly, bitterly, yet still she took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you."**

"**Yet Uncle Vernon always wants to throw me out. This summer he wanted me out because of the Dementors." Cris said.**

"**But they didn't, right?" Sirius asked.**

"**No," **

"**Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you."**

**"I still don't."**

**"While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort.**

"Yes, but now he can." Cris said.

"But the protection still protects you from Death Eaters." Dumbledore said.

"Okay, I see that, Voldemort is very unlikely to go to their house on his own." Tonks said.

**He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, while you are there he cannot hurt you. Your aunt knows this. I explained what I had done in the letter I left, with you, on her doorstep. She knows that allowing you houseroom may well have kept you alive for the past fifteen years."**

**"Wait," said Cris. "Wait a moment."**

**She sat up straighter in her chair, staring at Dumbledore.**

**"You sent that Howler. You told her to remember - it was your voice –"**

"**What Howler?" Sirius asked.**

"**This last summer, my Aunt received a Howler." Cris said.**

"I told you it was Dumbledore that sent the Howler." Bill said.

"You didn't say anything." George said.

"I was thinking it though." Bill said.

**"I thought," said Dumbledore, inclining his head slightly, "that she might need reminding of the pact she had sealed by taking you. I suspected the Dementor attack might have awoken her to the dangers of having you as a surrogate daughter."**

**"It did," said Cris quietly. "Well - my uncle more than her. He wanted to chuck me out, but after the Howler came she - she said I had to stay"**

**"Five years ago, then," continued Dumbledore, as though he had not paused in his story, "you arrived at Hogwarts, neither as happy nor as well-nourished as I would have liked, perhaps, yet alive and healthy. You were not a pampered little princess, but as normal a girl as I could have hoped under the circumstances. Thus far, my plan was working well. **

"So you wanted her to be a slave?" Sirius asked seething.

"No, I didn't want her to be as arrogant as her father." Dumbledore said with a chuckle.

"I doubt she would have." Hermione said.

"She was always a well-behaved baby." Remus said with a smile.

**"And then… well, you will remember the events of your first year at Hogwarts quite as clearly as I do. You rose magnificently to the challenge that faced you and sooner - much sooner - than I had anticipated, you found yourself face to face with Voldemort.**

"Are you saying that you planned all that?" Remus asked his wolf close to the surface.

"All I did was move the stone, to protect it from Voldemort. I had heard he was after it, though I did not suspect Quirrell." Dumbledore said.

"For your sake you better not have." Mrs. Weasley said glaring at the headmaster.

**You survived again. You did more. You delayed his return to full power and strength. You fought a man's fight. I was… prouder of you than I can say.**

**"Yet there was a flaw in this wonderful plan of mine," said Dumbledore. "An obvious flaw that I knew, even then, might be the undoing of it all. And yet, knowing how important it was that my plan should succeed, I told myself that I would not permit this flaw to ruin it. I alone could prevent this, so I alone must be strong. And here was my first test, as you lay in the hospital wing, weak from your struggle with Voldemort."**

**"I don't understand what you're saying," said Cris.**

**"Don't you remember asking me, as you lay in the hospital wing, why Voldemort had tried to kill you when you were a baby?" **

**Cris nodded.**

**"Ought I to have told you then?"**

**Cris stared into the blue eyes and said nothing, but her heart was racing again.**

**"You do not see the flaw in the plan yet? No… perhaps not. Well, as you know, I decided not to answer you. Eleven, I told myself, was much too young to know. I had never intended to tell you when you were eleven. The knowledge would be too much at such a young age.**

"Okay, I can see why you would have thought that." Lily said.

"I still think I could have handled it." Cris said.

**"I should have recognized the danger signs then. I should have asked myself why I did not feel more disturbed that you had already asked me the question to which I knew, one day, I must give a terrible answer. I should have recognized that I was too happy to think that I did not have to do it on that particular day… YOU were too young, much too young.**

"Yes, and four years older is old enough." Fred said.

**"And so we entered your second year at Hogwarts. And once again you met challenges even grown wizards have never faced: once again you acquitted yourself beyond my wildest dreams. You did not ask me again, however, why Voldemort had left that mark on you. We discussed your scar, oh yes… we came very, very close to the subject. Why did I not tell you everything?**

**"Well, it seemed to me that twelve was, after all, hardly better than eleven to receive such information. I allowed you to leave my presence, bloodstained, exhausted but exhilarated, and if I felt a twinge of unease that I ought, perhaps, to have told you then, it was swiftly silenced. You were still so young, you see, and I could not find it in myself to spoil that night of triumph…**

**"Do you see, Cris? Do you see the flaw in my brilliant plan now? I had fallen into the trap I had foreseen, that I had told myself I could avoid, that I must avoid."**

"**You were waiting for the last minute, weren't you?" Sirius asked dumbfoundly. **

"If this didn't happen, would you have waited to tell me?" Cris asked.

"I would have, yes." Dumbledore said.

"Then I'm glad I'm learning of it now." Cris said.

**"I don't –"**

**"I cared about you too much," said Dumbledore simply. "I cared more for your happiness than your knowing the truth, more for your peace of mind than my plan, more for your life than the lives that might be lost if the plan failed. In other words, I acted exactly as Voldemort expects we fools who love to act.**

"We aren't fools, we're human." George said.

"Cris is an easy person to love, whether romantically or as siblings." Hermione said.

"Really?" Cris asked.

"Really, I came to you, remember?" Gwen asked.

"I do," Cris said with a smile.

**"Is there a Defense? I defy anyone who has watched you as I have - and I have watched you more closely than you can have imagined - not to want to save you more pain than you had already suffered. What did I care if numbers of nameless and faceless people and creatures were slaughtered in the vague future, if in the here and now you were alive, and well, and happy? I never dreamed that I would have such a person on my hands.**

**"We entered your third year. I watched from afar as you struggled to repel Dementors, as you found Sirius, learned what he was and rescued him. Was I to tell you then, at the moment when you had triumphantly snatched your godfather from the jaws of the Ministry? But now, at the age of thirteen, my excuses were running out. Young you might be, but you had proved you were exceptional. My conscience was uneasy, Cris. I knew the time must come soon…**

**"But you came out of the maze last year, having watched Cedric Diggory die, having escaped death so narrowly yourself… and I did not tell you, though I knew, now Voldemort had returned, I must do it soon. And now, tonight, I know you have long been ready for the knowledge I have kept from you for so long, because you have proved that I should have placed the burden upon you before this. My only Defense is this: I have watched you struggling under more burdens than any student who as ever passed through this school and I could not bring myself to add another - the greatest one of all."**

"I still think I could've handled it." Cris said.

**Cris waited, but Dumbledore did not speak.**

**"I still don't understand."**

**"Voldemort tried to kill you when you were a child because of a prophecy made shortly before your birth. He knew the prophecy had been made, though he did not know its full contents."**

"**Thank Merlin for that." Sirius said. **

Sirius held Cris tighter not wanting to know how she'll react to the prophecy.

"**He set out to kill you when you were still a baby, believing he was fulfilling the terms of the prophecy. He discovered, to his cost, that he was mistaken, when the curse intended to kill you backfired. And so, since his return to his body, and particularly since your extraordinary escape from him last year, he has been determined to hear that prophecy in its entirety. This is the weapon he has been seeking so assiduously since his return: the knowledge of how to destroy you."**

**The sun had risen fully now: Dumbledore's office was bathed in it. The glass case in which the sword of Godric Gryffindor resided gleamed white and opaque, the fragments of the instruments Cris had accidently thrown to the floor glistened like raindrops, and behind her, the baby Fawkes made soft chirruping noises in his nest of ashes. Sirius looked at the headmaster as his hand on Cris' shoulder increased a degree.**

**"The prophecy smashed," Cris said blankly. "I was pulling Neville up those benches in the - the room where the archway was, and I ripped his robes and it fell…"**

**"The thing that smashed was merely the record of the prophecy kept by the Department of Mysteries. But the prophecy was made to somebody, and that person has the means of recalling it perfectly."**

**"Who heard it?" asked Cris, though she thought she knew the answer already.**

**"I did," said Dumbledore. "On a cold, wet night sixteen years ago, in a room above the bar at the Hog's Head inn. I had gone there to see an applicant for the post of Divination teacher, though it was against my inclination to allow the subject of Divination to continue at all. The applicant, however, was the great-great-granddaughter of a very famous, very gifted Seer and I thought it common politeness to meet her. **

"So it was Trelawney that made it." Charlie said.

"She isn't much of a fraud at all." Hermione said.

**I was disappointed. It seemed to me that she had not a trace of the gift herself. I told her, courteously I hope, that I did not think she would be suitable for the post. I turned to leave."**

**Dumbledore got to his feet and walked past Cris to the black cabinet that stood beside Fawkes's perch. He bent down, slid back a catch and took from inside it the shallow stone basin, carved with runes around the edges, in which Cris had seen her father tormenting Snape.**

**Dumbledore walked back to the desk, placed the Pensieve upon it, and raised his wand to his own temple. From it, he withdrew silvery, gossamer-fine strands of thought clinging to the wand and deposited them into the basin. He sat back down behind his desk and watched his thoughts swirl and drift inside the Pensieve for a moment. Then, with a sigh, he raised his wand and prodded the silvery substance with its tip.**

The room was silent, anticipating what the prophecy was and tense on what it could mean. Draco took a deep breath and continued tensely.

**A figure rose out of it, draped in shawls, her eyes magnified to enormous size behind her glasses, and she revolved slowly; her feet in the basin. But when Sibyll Trelawney spoke, it was not in her usual ethereal, mystic voice, but in the harsh, hoarse tones Cris had heard her use once before:**

_**"The one with the power to vanquish the - Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark the child as his equal, but the child will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…" **_

The room was eerily quiet as they digested the prophecy. Cris looked at her future children's faces and they were white as well, they didn't know of the prophecy.

"It's a killed or be killed situation." Gwen muttered.

"Why is it always me?" Cris asked.

"That's the thing though, it didn't specify you." Hermione said.

"It could've been me as well." Neville said.

"What?" Cris asked.

"My birthday is the same day as yours." Neville said.

"It could've been either one of us." Cris said.

"But he chose you for some reason." Ron said.

"It's because we're both half-bloods." Cris said.

"Is it really that simple?" Hermione asked.

"It could be," Cris said shrugging. "you guys didn't know about this right?" she asked her children.

"No, you kind of skipped that when we've asked." Scarlett said.

"You mean, we were almost not born?" James asked.

"Obviously I lived so you were born." Cris said. "Please continue, Draco."

**The slowly revolving Professor Trelawney sank back into the silver mass below and vanished.**

**The silence within the office was absolute. Neither Dumbledore, Sirius nor Cris nor any of the portraits made a sound. Even Fawkes had fallen silent.**

**"Professor Dumbledore?" Cris said very quietly, for Dumbledore, still staring at the Pensieve, seemed completely lost in thought. "It… did that mean… what did that mean?"**

**"It meant," said Dumbledore, "that the person who has the only chance of conquering Lord Voldemort for good was born at the end of July, nearly sixteen years ago. This child would be born to parents who had already defied Voldemort three times."**

"So either of us, how close were we to being born in August?" Cris asked.

"If I remember correctly, Alice had Neville at about 11 pm and you were born very close to midnight." Remus said.

"We were pregnant at the same time." Alice said with a smile.

"Well, we did say we would be pregnant together." Lily said with a laugh.

**Cris felt as though something was closing in on her. Her breathing seemed difficult again.**

**"It means - me?"**

**Dumbledore surveyed him for a moment through his glasses.**

**"The odd thing, Cris," he said softly, "is that it may not have meant you at all. Sibyll's prophecy could have applied to two magical children, both born at the end of July that year, both of whom had parents in the Order of the Phoenix, both sets of parents having narrowly escaped Voldemort three times. One, of course, was you. The other was Neville Longbottom." Sirius' hand became almost painfully tight on her shoulder.**

**"But then… but then, why was it my name on the prophecy and not Neville's?"**

**"The official record was re-labeled after Voldemort's attack on you as a child," said Dumbledore. "It seemed plain to the keeper of the Hall of Prophecy that Voldemort could only have tried to kill you because he knew you to be the one to whom Sibyll was referring."**

**"Then - it might not be me?" said Cris.**

**"I am afraid," said Dumbledore slowly, looking as though every word cost him a great effort, "that there is no doubt that it is you."**

Cris sighed and looked down and Sirius held her tighter. Fred and George were very pale they were coming to terms that their girlfriend would have to kill Voldemort but they reassured themselves that she would survive, get married to them and have six beautiful children with them.

**"But you said - Neville was born at the end of July, too - and his mum and dad –"**

**"You are forgetting the next part of the prophecy, the final identifying feature of the child who could vanquish Voldemort… Voldemort himself would mark the child as his equal. And so he did, Cris. He chose you, not Neville. He gave you the scar that has proved both blessing and curse."**

**"But he might have chosen wrong!" said Cris. "He might have marked the wrong person!"**

**"He chose the child he thought most likely to be a danger to him," said Dumbledore. "And notice this, Cris: he chose, not the pureblood (which, according to his creed, is the only kind of wizard worth being or knowing) but the half-blood, like himself. He saw himself in you before he had ever seen you, and in marking you with that scar, he did not kill you, as he intended, but gave you powers, and a future, which have fitted you to escape him not once, but four times so far – **

"Isn't it six?" Ginny asked.

"Well the time in the forest didn't really count and the memory in second year wasn't really him." Cris said.

"Right," Ginny said.

**something that neither your parents, nor Neville's parents, ever achieved."**

**"Why did he do it, then?" said Cris, who felt numb and cold. "Why did he try and kill me as a baby? He should have waited to see whether Neville or I looked more dangerous when we were older and tried to kill whoever it was then –"**

**"That might, indeed, have been the more practical course," said Dumbledore, "except that Voldemort's information about the prophecy was incomplete. The Hog's Head inn, which Sibyll chose for its cheapness, has long attracted, shall we say, a more interesting clientele than the Three Broomsticks. As you and your friends found out to your cost, and I to mine that night, it is a place where it is never safe to assume you are not being overheard. Of course, I had not dreamed, when I set out to meet Sibyll Trelawney, that I would hear anything worth overhearing. My - our - one stroke of good fortune was that the eavesdropper was detected only a short way into the prophecy and thrown from the building." **

"So who was the eavesdropper?" Lily asked.

"I think you'll find out in the last book." Keiran said.

"Great," Prongs said.

**"So he only heard -?"**

**"He heard only the beginning, the part foretelling the birth of a child in July to parents who had thrice defied Voldemort. Consequently, he could not warn his master that to attack you would be to risk transferring power to you, and marking you as his equal. So Voldemort never knew that there might be danger in attacking you, that it might be wise to wait, to learn more. He did not know that you would have power the Dark Lord knows not–"**

**"But I don't!" said Cris, in a strangled voice. "I haven't any powers he hasn't got, I couldn't fight the way he did tonight, I can't possess people or - or kill them -"**

"You do have something he does not though." Robin said.

"I know." Cris said with a smile.

**"There is a room in the Department of Mysteries," interrupted Dumbledore, "that is kept locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than the forces of nature. It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside there. It is the power held within that room that you possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all. That power took you to save Sirius tonight. That power also saved you from possession by Voldemort, because he could not bear to reside in a body so full of the force he detests. In the end, it mattered not that you could not close your mind. It was your heart that saved you."**

"So love conquers all." Gwen said.

"Doesn't it always?" Cris asked.

"It certainly seems so." Hermione said.

**Cris closed her eyes. If she had not gone to save Sirius, Emmeline would not have died to save Sirius… "The end of the prophecy... it was something about neither... can live..."**

**"… while the other survives," said Dumbledore.**

**"So," said Cris, dredging up the words from what felt like a deep well of despair inside her, "so does that mean that… that one of us has got to kill the other one… in the end?" **

**"Yes," said Dumbledore. Cris sat still for a long time thinking of the prophecy before feeling Sirius wrap her in another hug.**

"**Don't worry Cris; we'll get through this, together." Sirius murmured in her ear.**

**"I feel I owe you another explanation, Cris," said Dumbledore hesitantly. "You may, perhaps, have wondered why I never chose you as a prefect? I must confess… that I rather thought… you had enough responsibility to be going on with." **

"Thank you, I think I might have had enough with everything this year." Cris said.

"At least you understand." Dumbledore said.

**Cris looked up at him and saw a tear trickling down Dumbledore's face into his long silver beard. She looked over at Sirius to see silent tears falling down his gaunt cheeks as well. **

"That's the chapter." Draco said. He passed it to Gwen to start the next chapter.


	42. Chapter 38: The Second War Begins

"**Chapter 38: The Second War Begins," **Gwen read.

"Didn't it already begin?" Alice asked.

"Well yeah, but now the Ministry know the truth, just a year too late." Cris said.

"That will be costly." Frank said.

"It was," the future kids said.

**HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED RETURNS**

**"****In a brief statement on Friday night, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned to this country and is active once more.**

**"'****It is with great regret that I must confirm that the wizard styling himself Lord - well, you know who I mean - is alive and among us again,' said Fudge, looking tired and flustered as he addressed reporters. 'It is with almost equal regret that we report the mass revolt of the Dementors of Azkaban, who have shown themselves averse to continuing in the Ministry's employ. We believe the Dementors are currently taking direction from Lord - Thingy.**

"Lord Thingy?" asked the group who were trying very hard not to laugh.

"We are so using that." Fred shouted. Fred and George high-fived each other.

"Do you want to be murdered in your beds?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"But we won't be." George said.

"Mischief, Trouble, shut up." Cris said.

"Yes, Bambi." They said. Their siblings were stifling laughter as Charlie made a whipping sound.

**The Minister's statement was met with dismay and alarm from the wizarding community, which as recently as last Wednesday was receiving Ministry assurances that there was 'no truth whatsoever in these persistent rumors that You-Know-Who is operating amongst us once more'. **

"There aren't going to be many Ministry supporters this war." Remus said.

"Nope, and it'll be they're fault." Sirius said.

**"****Details of the events that led to the Ministry turnaround are still hazy, though it is believed that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and a select band of followers (known as Death Eaters) gained entry to the Ministry of Magic itself on Thursday evening.**

"Don't forget the six Hogwarts students who fought them off." Tonks said.

"Yeah, you can't forget about us." Ginny said.

**"****Albus Dumbledore, newly reinstated Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, reinstated member of the International Confederation of Wizards and reinstated Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, has so far been unavailable for comment. He has insisted over the past year that You-Know-Who is not dead, as was widely hoped and believed, but is recruiting followers once more for afresh attempt to seize power. Meanwhile, the Girl Who Lived' –"**

"I was wondering when I would come into this." Cris said.

**"****There you are, Cris, I knew they'd drag you into it somehow," said Hermione, looking over the top of the paper at her.**

**They were in the hospital wing. Cris was sitting on the end of Ron's bed and they were both listening to Hermione read the front page of the Sunday Prophet. **

**Ginny, whose ankle had been mended in a trice by Madam Pomfrey, was curled up at the foot of Hermione's bed;**

"Am I a cat all of a sudden?" Ginny asked.

"Nope, that's me." Cris said.

"Yes, fastest land animal, we know." Hermione said.

**Neville, whose nose had likewise been returned to its normal size and shape, was in a chair between the two beds; and Luna, who had dropped in to visit, clutching the latest edition of The Quibbler, was reading the magazine upside-down and apparently not taking in a word Hermione was saying. **

"Oh, I'm listening I just like to look like I'm not listening." Luna said.

"Why?" Draco asked.

"I don't know, I just do." Luna said.

"Okay then." Cris said.

**Sirius was sitting on his bed and he kept looking at the door for someone to come through them. **

"Ah, you're waiting for us." Robin said.

"Of course I am." Sirius said.

**"****She's the 'girl who lived' again now, though, isn't she?" said Ron darkly. "Not such a deluded show-off any more, eh?"**

"Well at least you know who is on your side." Mr. Weasley said.

"I'll always know that they are on my side." Cris said.

"Always," they said.

**He helped himself to a handful of Chocolate Frogs from the immense pile on his bedside cabinet, threw a few to Cris, Ginny and Neville and ripped off the wrapper of his own with his teeth. **

**There were still deep welts on his forearms where the brain's tentacles had wrapped around him.**

"You still have them." Al said.

"Well, one cannot go through war without getting a few scars." Cris said.

"We all have scars from the war?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah," Lily J said.

**According to Madam Pomfrey, thoughts could leave deeper scarring than almost anything else, though since she had started applying copious amounts of Dr. Ubbly's Oblivious Unction there seemed to have been some improvement.**

"How bad are they?" Ron asked.

"They don't look too bad in our time but it is almost 20 years after the fact." James said.

"Well, scars do fade over the years." Remus said.

"That's true; mum's scar isn't as noticeable as now." Lily J said.

"Thank Merlin!" Cris said.

**"****Yes, they're very complimentary about you now, Cris," said Hermione, scanning down the article. "'A lone voice of truth… perceived as unbalanced, yet never wavered in her story… forced to bear ridicule and slander… ' Hmmm," she said, frowning, "I notice they don't mention the fact that it was them doing all the ridiculing and slandering in the Prophet…"**

"Hypocrites," the trio said.

"No kidding," the marauders said.

**She winced slightly and put a hand to her ribs. The curse Dolohov had used on her, though less effective than it would have been had he been able to say the incantation aloud, had nevertheless caused, in Madam Pomfrey's words, 'quite enough damage to be going on with'. Hermione was having to take ten different types of potion every day, was improving greatly, and was already bored with the hospital wing.**

"It's always boring in the Hospital Wing." Hermione said.

"It can be boring in there." Moony said.

**"****You-Know-Who's Last Attempt to Take Over, pages two to four, What the Ministry Should Have Told Us, page five, Why Nobody Listened to Albus Dumbledore, pages six to eight, Exclusive Interview with Cristal Potter, page nine, Sirius Black's Innocence pages ten to eleven… Well," said Hermione, folding up the newspaper and throwing it aside, "it's certainly given them lots to write about. And that interview with Cris isn't exclusive, it's the one that was in The Quibbler months ago… and you've been cleared Sirius!"**

"**I know, I wanted to tell you when Robin got here." Sirius said still looking at the door.**

"**Is she bringing the baby?" Cris asked. The group perked up at that.**

"**What baby?" Ron asked. **

"**I was meaning to tell Cris over the Christmas Holidays. Robin and I are getting married and that we had a baby together." Sirius said. They gaped at him and Cris grinned widely.**

"**I have a little god brother or sister?" Cris asked. **

"**Actually, I was hoping you would be his godmother." Sirius said rubbing the back of his neck and running his hands through his hair the way she saw in the memory a few months ago. Cris grinned widely and hugged him.**

"**I would be honored. What's his name?" Cris asked. **

"**Keiran James," Sirius said looking straight into her green eyes. **

"You were looking for my approval, weren't you?" Cris asked.

"I believe I was." Sirius said.

"You don't need it; my dad was your friend long before I was thought of." Cris said. Sirius smiled and laughed and kissed her head.

"**That's a great name Sirius." Hermione said. **

"**I really like it." Cris said with a big smile. "When are they getting here?" **

"**Any time now." Sirius said. **

"**I can't wait." Cris said hugging him again. **

"**Anyway, where did they get the interview?" Ron asked.**

"That is a good question, where did they get it?" Ginny asked.

"Daddy must have sold it to them." Luna said.

"That makes sense." Hermione said.

**"****Daddy sold it to them," said Luna vaguely, turning a page of The Quibbler. "He got a very good price for it, too, so we're going to go on an expedition to Sweden this summer to see if we can catch a Crumple-Horned Snorkack."**

**Hermione seemed to struggle with herself for a moment, then said, "That sounds lovely"**

**Ginny caught Cris' eye and looked away quickly, grinning. Sirius was trying very hard not to laugh.**

**"****So, anyway," said Hermione, sitting up a little straighter and wincing again, "what's going on in school?"**

**"Well, Flitwick's got rid of Fred and George's swamp," said Ginny, "he did it in about three seconds. But he left a tiny patch under the window and he's roped it off."**

"Is it still there?" Fred asked.

"It is, you wouldn't believe how many people try and follow you guys." Teddy said.

"Do any succeed?" Sirius asked.

"Not until me and Keiran were in school together." Teddy said.

"I was waiting for him." Keiran said with a grin.

"Of course he was." Robin said.

"Well I am the son of two marauders." Keiran said with a grin.

"Don't remind me." Robin said.

"We need a monument." Prongs said.

"We'll come up with something." Padfoot said.

"Great," McGonagall said sighing.

**"****Why?" said Hermione, looking startled.**

**"****Oh, he just says it was a really good bit of magic," said Ginny, shrugging.**

**"****I think he left it as a monument to Fred and George," said Ron, through a mouthful of chocolate. "They sent me all these, you know," he told Cris, pointing at the small mountain of Frogs beside him. "Must be doing all right out of that joke shop, eh?" **

"Yes!" they high fived each other.

"We told you it was successful." James said.

**Cris was thinking about the card they had sent her, it sent her blushing every time she thought about it. **

"Do we really want to know?" Lily asked. The three looked at each other.

"No, probably not." Cris, Fred and George said.

"**What's got you blushing, Prongslet?" Sirius asked with a wide grin. **

"**Nothing," Cris said with an even brighter blush. **

**Hermione looked rather disapproving and asked, "So has all the trouble stopped now Dumbledore's back?"**

**"****Yes," said Neville, "everything's settled right back to normal."**

"What is normal?" Cris asked.

"I have no clue." Ginny said.

**"****I s'pose Filch is happy, is he?" asked Ron, propping a Chocolate Frog Card featuring Dumbledore against his water jug.**

**"****Not at all," said Ginny "He's really, really miserable, actually…" She lowered her voice to a whisper. "He keeps saying Umbridge was the best thing that ever happened to Hogwarts…"**

"She's a delusional psycho." Padfoot said.

"You got that right." Prongs said.

**All seven of them looked around. Professor Umbridge was lying in a bed opposite them, gazing up at the ceiling. Dumbledore had strode alone into the Forest to rescue her from the centaurs; **

"Ah, you should have left her there, sir." Charlie said.

**how he had done it - how he had emerged from the trees supporting Professor Umbridge without so much as a scratch on him - nobody knew, and Umbridge was certainly not telling. Since she had returned to the castle she had not, as far as any of them knew, uttered a single word. Nobody really knew what was wrong with her, either. Her usually neat mousy hair was very untidy and there were still bits of twigs and leaves in it, but otherwise she seemed to be quite unscathed. **

"Well, at least she hasn't said anything." Bill said.

**"****Madam Pomfrey says she's just in shock," whispered Hermione.**

**"Sulking, more like," said Ginny. **

"Or a bit of both." Gwen said.

"Could be," Cris said.

**"****Yeah, she shows signs of life if you do this," said Ron, and with his tongue he made soft clip clopping noises. Umbridge sat bolt upright, looking around wildly.**

"Oh my god, that is awesome!" George said.

"I love it!" Padfoot said.

**"****Anything wrong, Professor?" called Madam Pomfrey, poking her head around her office door.**

**"****No… no…" said Umbridge, sinking back into her pillows. "No, I must have been dreaming…"**

**Hermione and Ginny muffled their laughter in the bedclothes. Though Cris and Sirius were out right laughing. **

**"****Speaking of centaurs," said Hermione, when she had recovered a little, "who's Divination teacher now? Is Firenze staying?"**

"Probably both of them will stay. I'm sure Dumbledore will work something out." Kingsley said.

"I'll just be glad to get out of Divinations." Cris said.

"Me too," Ron and Neville said.

**"****He's got to," said Cris, "the other centaurs won't take him back, will they?"**

**"****It looks like he and Trelawney are both going to teach," said Ginny.**

**"****Bet Dumbledore wishes he could've got rid of Trelawney for good," said Ron, now munching on his fourteenth Frog. **

**"Mind you, the whole subject's useless if you ask me, Firenze isn't a lot better…"**

**"****How can you say that?" Hermione demanded. "After we've just found out that there are real prophecies?" **

"Well that's a change of perspective." Charlie said.

"I know, that's crazy." Hermione said.

"Well after finding out prophecies are real it would change your thinking slightly." Cris said.

**Cris' heart began to race. She had not told Ron, Hermione or anyone else what the prophecy had contained. Neville had told them it had smashed while Cris was pulling him up the steps in the Death Room and Cris had not yet corrected this impression. She was not ready to see their expressions when she told them that she must be either murderer or victim, there was no other way…**

"I'm glad we know now, we will be by your side through everything." Ginny said.

"Thanks," Cris said with a grateful smile.

**Her thoughts were interrupted when the Hospital Wing's doors opened up and Robin came in carrying a little blue bundle. Sirius jumped out of his bed and went over to them and kissed Robin. **

"Awww." the group said. Keiran blushed brightly at that and Victoire kissed his cheek.

"**She looks like Professor Lupin." Neville said. The little family came over and sat down on the bed. Cris was immediately by Robin's side.**

"**That's because Remus is my twin brother, my name is Robin Lupin, soon to be Black." Robin said with a smile towards Sirius. And she did look exactly the same as she did when Cris had the dream back in third year. Yes she was older but she was still recognizable. Her long sandy blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her amber eyes that were just like Remus' were on the babe in her arms. **

"**Would you like to hold your godson?" Robin asked Cris. Cris smiled and nodded and Robin passed her the sleeping babe. Already he looked like Sirius, he had black hair and she was wondering if he had his eyes as well. That is until little Keiran yawned and stretched and opened his eyes to look at her. His eyes were an amber color a lot like Robin's that Cris couldn't help but smile. People would be saying the same thing to him as they did to her. **

"**He's precious, and so adorable." Cris said. Ginny was sitting next to her and gazing at the baby with a smile on her face. Cris could tell that Ginny was thinking the same thing she was, wondering about the day they would become mothers and have kids of their own.**

"How do you know I would be thinking that?" Ginny asked.

"I'm dating the twins, I'm best friends with Ron, and you have the same features as them and I can read them easily." Cris said.

"You won't be a mother until you marry." Mrs. Weasley said to the two girls.

"We know." They said.

"**Cris, can I see him?" Hermione asked wincing slightly as she tried to look at Keiran's face. Cris nodded and moved over to her bed and sat down next to her. Keiran had a hold of Cris' pinky and what happened a few nights ago disappeared from her mind as she gazed at the innocent baby. **

"That tends to happen when you look at babies." Mrs. Weasley said with a smile.

"**He is beautiful," Hermione said. Cris couldn't help but agree. She couldn't help but think if this was how Sirius felt when she was born.**

"I did, you were so tiny, but precious at the same time, you had all of us wrapped around your finger." Sirius said with a laugh.

"Not Peter though," Robin said.

"Yeah, and now we know why." Remus said darkly.

**Before Cris knew it they were talking about the broken prophecy again.**

**"****It is a pity it broke," said Hermione quietly, shaking her head.**

**"****Yeah, it is," said Ron. "Still, at least You-Know-Who never found out what was in it either - where are you going?" he added, looking both surprised and disappointed as Cris stood up.**

**"****Er - Hagrid's," said Cris. "You know, he just got back and I promised I'd go down and see him and tell him how you two are."**

**"****Oh, all right then," said Ron grumpily, looking out of the dormitory window at the patch of bright blue sky beyond. "Wish we could come."**

**"****Say hello to him for us!" called Hermione, as Cris proceeded down the ward and gave Keiran back to his mummy. "And ask him what's happening about… about his little friend!" **

"Well, that'll be true if it was opposite day." Charlie said.

"I like opposite day, that was fun." Cris said.

"Yeah it was," Gwen said.

"What are you two talking about?" Hermione asked.

"In Primary School we had certain days that were crazy days. And one day was opposite day." Gwen said.

"Gwen and I dressed as a couple of mini-Goths, it was fun, I wonder if we could do it again." Cris said.

"After this book." Gwen said.

"Yes, let's do it!" Cris said with a smile.

"So it's basically dress opposite of what you are?" Ginny asked.

"Yep, it's a lot of fun." Gwen said.

**Cris gave a wave of her hand to show she had heard and understood as she left the dormitory.**

**The castle seemed very quiet even for a Sunday. Everybody was clearly out in the sunny grounds, enjoying the end of their exams and the prospect of a last few days of term unhampered by revision or homework. Cris walked slowly along the deserted corridor, peering out of windows as she went; she could see people messing around in the air over the Quidditch pitch and a couple of students swimming in the lake, accompanied by the giant squid.**

"You know, during the second task I didn't see the squid at all." Cris said.

"Maybe he was hiding." Prongs said with a shrug.

**She was finding it hard to decide whether she wanted to be with people or not; whenever she was in company she wanted to get away and whenever she was alone she wanted company. She thought she might really go and visit Hagrid, though, as she had not talked to him properly since he'd returned…**

**Cris had just descended the last marble step into the Entrance Hall when Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle emerged from a door on the right that Cris knew led down to the Slytherin common room. Cris stopped dead; so did Malfoy and the others. The only sounds were the shouts, laughter and splashes drifting into the Hall from the grounds through the open front doors.**

**Malfoy glanced around - Cris knew he was checking for signs of teachers - then he looked back at Cris and said in a low voice, "You're dead, Potter."**

"I'm sorry," Draco said.

"That's not really you, so it's no problem." Cris said.

**Cris raised her eyebrows and swished her long hair over her shoulder.**

**"****Funny" she said, "you'd think I'd have stopped walking around…"**

"Oh dear lord there is your father again." Lily said.

**Malfoy looked angrier than Cris had ever seen him; she felt a kind of detached satisfaction at the sight of his pale, pointed face contorted with rage.**

**"****You're going to pay," said Malfoy in a voice barely louder than a whisper. "I'm going to make you pay for what you've done to my father…" **

"Actually, I'm thankful; he'll be out of my life for however long he is gone." Draco said.

**"****Well, I'm terrified now," said Cris sarcastically. "I s'pose Lord Voldemort's just a warm-up act compared to you three - what's the matter?" she added, for Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had all looked stricken at the sound of the name. "He's your dad's mate, isn't he? Not scared of him, are you?"**

**"****You think you're such a big girl, Potter," said Malfoy, advancing now, Crabbe and Goyle flanking him. "You wait. I'll have you. You can't land my father in prison." **

"Um, well, she really didn't, it was the Order members and the Aurors." Remus said.

"What am I, stupid?" Draco asked.

"You aren't stupid, you've grown." Luna said sweetly kissing his cheek. Draco blushed but didn't say anything.

**"****I thought I just had," said Cris.**

**"****The Dementors have left Azkaban," said Malfoy quietly. "Dad and the others'll be out in no time…"**

"Alright, I can see that, sense the Dementors are no longer there." Sirius said.

**"****Yeah, I expect they will," said Cris "Still, at least everyone knows what scumbags they are now."**

"Oh Cris, are you trying to get killed?" Sirius asked.

"No, that's just how I can be." Cris said with a smile.

**Malfoy's hand flew towards his wand, but Cris was too quick for him; she had drawn her own wand before Malfoy's fingers had even entered the pocket of his robes.**

**"****Potter!"**

**The voice rang across the Entrance Hall. Snape had emerged from the staircase leading down to his office and at the sight of him Cris felt a great rush of hatred beyond anything she felt towards Malfoy… whatever Dumbledore said, she would never forgive Snape… never…**

**"****What are you doing, Potter?" said Snape, as coldly as ever, as he strode over to the four of them.**

**"****I'm trying to decide what curse to use on Malfoy, sir," said Cris fiercely. **

"Cris!" groaned the room.

"I haven't done anything yet." Cris said.

**Snape stared at her.**

**"****Put that wand away at once," he said curtly. "Ten points from Gryff-"**

**Snape looked towards the giant hour-glasses on the walls and gave a sneering smile.**

**"****Ah. I see there are no longer any points left in the Gryffindor hour-glass to take away.**

"How is that even possible?" Padfoot asked.

"Because of Umbridge's stupid prejudice and the stupid Squad of hers." Ron said.

"Yeah, that does make sense." Prongs said.

**In that case, Potter, we will simply have to -"**

**"****Add some more?"**

"Please tell me I didn't say that." Cris said.

"It wasn't you," Gwen said.

"Then who was it?" Ginny asked.

**Professor McGonagall**

Cheers filled the room and the return of McGonagall to Hogwarts.

**had just stumped up the stone steps into the castle; she was carrying a tartan carpetbag in one hand and leaning heavily on a walking stick with her other, but otherwise looked quite well.**

**"****Professor McGonagall!" said Snape, striding forwards. "Out of St. Mungo's, I see!"**

**"****Yes, Professor Snape," said Professor McGonagall, shrugging off her traveling cloak, "I'm quite as good as new. You two - Crabbe – Goyle."**

**She beckoned them forwards imperiously and they came, shuffling their large feet and looking awkward.**

**"****Here," said Professor McGonagall, thrusting her carpetbag into Crabbe's chest and her cloak into Goyle's; "take these up to my office for me."**

"Good job, get rid of the idiots." Tonks said.

**They turned and stumped away up the marble staircase.**

**"****Right then," said Professor McGonagall, looking up at the hourglasses on the wall. "Well, I think Potter and her friends ought to have fifty points apiece for alerting the world to the return of You-Know-Who! What say you, Professor Snape?"**

**"****What?" snapped Snape, though Cris knew he had heard perfectly well. "Oh - well - I suppose…" **

"Actually, I'm quite proud." Snape said. Everyone was shocked and turned to stare at him.

"Did he just say what I think he said?" Prongs asked.

"He did," Padfoot said.

"The world is ending." Prongs said.

**"So that's fifty each for Potter, the two Weasleys, Longbottom and Miss Granger," said Professor McGonagall, and a shower of rubies fell down into the bottom bulb of Gryffindor's hour-glass as she spoke. "Oh - and fifty for Miss Lovegood, I suppose," she added, and a number of sapphires fell into Ravenclaw's glass. **

"Do you know who won that year?" Ron asked.

"I think Ravenclaw did." Keiran said.

"That's not bad." George said.

**"Now, you wanted to take ten from Miss Potter, I think, Professor Snape - so there we are…"**

**A few rubies retreated into the upper bulb, leaving a respectable amount below nevertheless.**

"It's still over two hundred." Hermione said.

"That's still cool." Cris said.

**"Well, Potter, Malfoy I think you ought to be outside on a glorious day like this," Professor McGonagall continued briskly.**

**Cris did not need telling twice- she thrust her wand back inside her robes and headed straight for the front doors without another glance at Snape and Malfoy. **

**The hot sun hit her with a blast as she walked across the lawns towards Hagrid's cabin. Students lying around on the grass sunbathing, talking, reading the Sunday Prophet and eating sweets, looked up at her as she passed; some called out to her, or else waved, clearly eager to show that they, like the Prophet, had decided she was something of a hero. Cris said nothing to any of them. She had no idea how much they knew of what had happened three days ago, but she had so far avoided being questioned and preferred to keep it that way.**

"You're still like that." Lily J said.

"It's good you don't change." Ron said with a smile.

**She thought at first when she knocked on Hagrid's cabin door that he was out, but then Fang came charging around the corner and almost bowled her over with the enthusiasm of her welcome.**

**Hagrid, it transpired, was picking runner beans in his back garden.**

**"All righ', Cris!" he said, beaming, when Cris approached the fence. "Come in, come in, we'll have a cup o' dandelion juice…"**

**"How's things?" Hagrid asked her, as they settled down at his wooden table with a glass apiece of iced juice. "Yeh - er - feelin' all righ', are yeh?"**

**Cris knew from the look of concern on Hagrid's face that he was not referring to Cris' physical well-being.**

"That's nice of him." Sirius said.

"**I'm good," Cris said, "better than I used to be, Sirius and Robin asked me to be Keiran's godmother." **

"**That's great!" Hagrid said with a big smile. **

"**So, where have you've been?" Cris asked.**

**"Bin hidin' out in the mountains," said Hagrid. "Up in a cave, like Sirius did when he was he last year." Cris grinned at him, those were fun times.**

**"Anyway, back now," he said.**

"**You look better," said Cris.**

**"Wha'?" said Hagrid, raising a massive hand and feeling his face. "Oh - oh yeah. Well, Grawpy's loads better behaved now, loads. Seemed right pleased ter see me when I got back, ter tell yeh the truth. He's a good lad, really… I've bin thinkin' abou' tryin' ter find him a lady friend, actually…"**

"NO!" screamed the room.

"That's the last thing we need." McGonagall said.

**Cris would normally have tried to persuade Hagrid out of this idea at once; the prospect of a second giant taking up residence in the Forest, possibly even wilder and more brutal than Grawp, was positively alarming, but somehow Cris could not muster the energy necessary to argue the point. She was starting to wish she was alone again, and with the idea of hastening her departure she took several large gulps of her dandelion juice, half-emptying her glass.**

**"Ev'ryone knows yeh've bin tellin' the truth now, Cris," said Hagrid softly and unexpectedly. He was watching Cris closely. "Tha's gotta be better, hasn' it?"**

**Cris shrugged.**

**"Look…" Hagrid leaned towards him across the table, "I knew Emmeline longer 'n yeh did… she died in battle, an' tha's the way she'd've wanted ter go –"**

"She fought in both wars; I can tell you that is what she would've wanted." Robin said. Cris nodded though she was still sad about it all.

"**She didn't want to go at all though, I bet." Cris said.**

"No, but she went out the way she would've wanted though." Mrs. Weasley said.

**Hagrid bowed his great shaggy head…**

**"Nah, I don' reckon she did," he said quietly. "But still, Cris… she was never one ter sit aroun' at home an' let other people do the fightin'. She couldn've lived with herself if she hadn' gone ter help –"**

**Cris leapt up.**

**"I've got to go and visit everyone in the hospital wing," she said mechanically.**

"Bolt, are you sure it isn't the time of the month?" Ron asked.

"Ron!" his mother hissed. But Cris couldn't help but laugh.

**"Oh," said Hagrid, looking rather upset. "Oh… all righ' then, Cris… take care o' yerself then, an' drop back in if yeh've got a –"**

**"Yeah… right…"**

**Cris crossed to the door as fast as she could and pulled it open; she was out in the sunshine again before Hagrid had finished saying goodbye, and walking away across the lawn. Once again, people called out to her as she passed. She closed her eyes for a few moments, wishing they would all vanish, that she could open her eyes and find herself alone in the grounds…**

**A few days ago, before her exams had finished and she had seen the vision Voldemort had planted in her mind, she would have given almost anything for the wizarding world to know she had been telling the truth, for them to believe that Voldemort was back, and to know that she was neither a liar nor mad. Now, however…**

"The cost was too great." Cris said.

"But this go around it won't happen." Sirius said.

**She walked a short way around the lake, sat down on its bank, sheltered from the gaze of passersby behind a tangle of shrubs, and stared out over the gleaming water, thinking…**

**Perhaps the reason she wanted to be alone was because she had felt isolated from everybody since her talk with Dumbledore. An invisible barrier separated her from the rest of the world. She was - she had always been - marked. It was just that she had never really understood what that meant…**

"We'll figure something out, pup; you won't be alone in this fight." Sirius said.

**She had to kill someone, kill or be killed and she didn't like her odds. As Cris gazed out on the lake she felt contented until she felt someone come and sit next to her. She looked over to see Sirius in his dog form just sitting there next to her. Cris chuckled and leaned into his side as he transformed back. **

"**I'm scared." Cris said finally after they sat in silence for a while. **

"**I know pup, we'll get through this together." Sirius said. **

"Thanks Pads." Prongs said.

"I had promised I would take care of her." Sirius said. Prongs and Lily smiled gratefully at him.

**They sat there for a long time, gazing out at the water, trying not to think about what might be coming for them. Cris was hoping that if she didn't survive this that both Robin and Sirius would, she didn't want Keiran to go without parents like she did.**

"Oh Cris," Robin said with tears in her eyes.

"We won't go without family." Keiran said.

"That's right," Mrs. Weasley said. She knew she would take them if they didn't have anyone.

**The sun had set before she realized she was cold. They got up and returned to the castle, Cris was wiping her face on her sleeve as they went.**

**Ron and Hermione left the hospital wing completely cured three days before the end of term. Hermione kept wanting to ask what her, Sirius and Dumbledore talked about but Ron kept silencing her because he saw that Cris really didn't want to talk about it and knew she would tell them when she was ready.**

"You know me so well." Cris said with a laugh.

"I would hope so." Ron said.

**Cris was still not sure whether or not she wanted to talk about it; her wishes varied with her mood. She knew one thing, though: unhappy as she felt at the moment, she would greatly miss Hogwarts in a few days' time when she was back at number four, Privet Drive. Even though she now understood exactly why she had to return there every summer, she did not feel any better about it. Indeed, she had never dreaded her return more.**

**Professor Umbridge left Hogwarts the day before the end of term. It seemed she had crept out of the hospital wing during dinnertime, evidently hoping to depart undetected, but unfortunately for her, she met Peeves on the way, **

"Oh no," Tonks said with a laugh.

"This should be good." Fred said rubbing his hands together.

**who seized his last chance to do as Fred had instructed, and chased her gleefully from the premises whacking her alternately with a walking stick and a sock full of chalk. **

**Many students ran out into the Entrance Hall to watch her running away down the path and the Heads of Houses tried only half-heartedly to restrain them. Indeed, Professor McGonagall sank back into her chair at the staff table after a few feeble remonstrance's and was clearly heard to express a regret that she could not run cheering after Umbridge herself, because Peeves had borrowed her walking stick.**

McGonagall couldn't help but laugh along with the rest of the group.

**Their last evening at school arrived; most people had finished packing and were already heading down to the end-of-term feast, but Cris had not even started.**

**"Just do it tomorrow!" said Ron, who was waiting by the door of their dormitory. "Come on, I'm starving." **

"Why did I wait so long?" Cris asked.

"You had a lot on your mind, I don't blame you." Hermione said.

**"I won't be long… look, you go ahead…"**

**But when the dormitory door closed behind Ron, Cris made no effort to speed up her packing.**

**The very last thing she wanted to do was to attend the Leaving Feast. She was worried that Dumbledore would make some reference to her in his speech. He was sure to mention Voldemort's return; he had talked to them about it last year, after all… **

**Cris pulled some crumpled robes out of the very bottom of her trunk to make way for folded ones and, as she did so, noticed a badly wrapped package lying in a corner of it. She could not think what it was doing there. She bent down, pulled it out from underneath her trainers and examined it.**

**She realized what it was within seconds. Sirius had given it to her just inside the front door of number twelve Grimmauld Place. 'Use it if you need me, all right?'**

"Now you open it." Sirius said.

"Sorry," Cris said with a sheepish smile.

**Cris sank down on to her bed and unwrapped the package. Out fell a small, square mirror. **

**It looked old; it was certainly dirty. Cris held it up to her face and saw her own reflection looking back at her.**

**She turned the mirror over. There on the reverse side was a scribbled note from Sirius.**

**This is a two-way mirror, I've got the other. If you need to speak to me, just say my name into it; you'll appear in my mirror and I'll be able to talk in yours. James and I used to use them when we were in separate detentions.**

"Damn, all our secrets are being revealed." Prongs said.

"And the teachers never noticed?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"No, I didn't at least." McGonagall said.

**Cris rolled her eyes and couldn't help but smile. She wanted to see if it'll work, over distances, since Sirius was back in London. **

"**Sirius," said Cris. It took a second and she gasped when her imagined changed to that of her smiling godfather. **

"Took you long enough." Sirius said. Cris playfully jabbed him in his ribs.

"**Took you long enough pup." Sirius said. **

"**Sorry, I completely forgot about this," Cris said. **

"**Last minute packing?" he asked. Cris could tell that he was reminiscing on something.**

"Yep, your dad did the same thing every year." Sirius said with a laugh.

"So did you." Remus said with a smile.

"**I've had a lot on my mind." Cris said sheepishly. "And I really don't feel like going down to the feast." **

"**I don't blame you there, but you should eat, at least go to the kitchens later." Sirius said. Cris couldn't help but grin; he was becoming more of a dad every day. **

"**Okay, Snuffles, when do you think I can come over this summer?" Cris asked. **

"**Well, Robin and I are leaving Grimmauld. We found a little place near the Weasley's." Sirius said. Cris grinned even wider she could visit almost everybody at once.**

"**That's fantastic. So how is Keiran doing?" she asked. The thought of her little godson kept her sane most days. **

"That's exactly how I feel about you." Sirius said. Cris couldn't help but smile at that as did Keiran and Teddy.

"**He's doing good, kind of reminds me of you actually," Sirius said with a laugh, "he rarely cries like you. Though I should let you go, you can always contact me through this while you're at the Dursley's. And of course we'll be sending pictures." **

"**I would like that, I have lots of room in my photo album," Cris said with a smile. Sirius smiled back and Cris was off packing again.**

"Good," Mrs. Weasley said though she disapproved of last minute anything.

**Once Cris was done she decided to head down to the Kitchens, even though she was in a better mood after talking to Sirius she didn't feel in the mood for all the stares and whispers that were bound to come if she went down to the feast. **

**Once Cris was out of the common room she headed down a corridor and noticed someone posting a notice on the board on the wall. A second glance showed him that it was Luna. She decided she could handle Luna so she went up to her. **

"Handle me?" Luna asked.

"That does sound rather bad, doesn't it?" Cris asked.

"It's okay, it hasn't happened yet and it won't happen." Luna said with a smile.

**"Hello," said Luna vaguely, glancing around at her as she stepped back from the notice.**

**"How come you're not at the feast?" Cris asked.**

**"Well, I've lost most of my possessions," said Luna serenely. "People take them and hide them, you know. **

"What?" Draco asked.

"It seems to happen every year. I'm used to it actually." Luna said.

"Why haven't you reported it to Professor Flitwick?" Hermione asked. Luna just shrugged as though it wasn't a big deal.

"Next time Miss Lovegood, please report it, this shouldn't be happening." McGonagall said.

"Yes, Professor." Luna said with her dreamy smile.

**But as it's the last night, I really do need them back, so I've been putting up signs."**

**She gestured towards the noticeboard, upon which, sure enough, she had pinned a list of all her missing books and clothes, with a plea for their return.**

**"How come people hide your stuff?" she asked her, frowning.**

**"Oh… well…" she shrugged. "I think they think I'm a bit odd, you know. Some people call me 'Loony' Lovegood, actually."**

**Cris looked at her and the new feeling of pity intensified rather painfully.**

**"That's no reason for them to take your things," she said flatly. "D'you want help finding them?"**

**"Oh, no," she said, smiling at him. "They'll come back, they always do in the end. It was just that I wanted to pack tonight. Anyway… why aren't you at the feast?"**

**Cris shrugged. "Just didn't feel like it."**

**"No," said Luna, observing her with those oddly misty, protuberant eyes. "I don't suppose you do. That man, in the Infirmary a few days ago, that was Sirius Black, your godfather, right?" **

"**Yeah," Cris said and she couldn't help but smile, it's kind of ironic; I'm the godmother to my godfather's son. **

"Remus is probably the godfather." Sirius said.

"He was until he died." Keiran said.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about the deaths." Robin said.

"Who is the new godfather?" Remus asked.

"Bill," Keiran said with a grin. Bill smiled at him, honored that Sirius asked though he wasn't the first choice.

**She had just remembered that she, too, could see Thestrals.**

**"Have you…" she began. "I mean, who… has anyone you known ever died?"**

Luna looked down, it's been five years but thinking of her mother still brought tears to her eyes. Draco seeing the tears in her eyes grabbed her hand to comfort her not knowing who it was though.

**"Yes," said Luna simply, "my mother.**

"Oh, Luna, I'm so sorry." Cris said.

"It still hurts, but I still remember her face." Luna said with a smile.

"Memories do live on." Remus said.

"That they do." Luna said simply. Draco however brought her to his side and hugged her to him.

**She was a quite extraordinary witch, you know, but she did like to experiment and one of her spells went rather badly wrong one day. I was nine."**

"That's terrible," Lily said who can't imagine losing her mum. But then she thought of her daughter who lost her and her father all she had was her horrible sister and Sirius and Remus and Robin. She was happy that Cris had the remaining Marauders but she wished that it was her and James raising their daughter.

**"I'm sorry," Cris mumbled.**

**"Yes, it was rather horrible," said Luna conversationally. "I still feel very sad about it sometimes. But I've still got Dad. And anyway, it's not as though I'll never see Mum again, is it?"**

**"Er - isn't it?" said Cris uncertainly.**

**She shook her head in disbelief.**

**"Oh, come on. You heard them, just behind the veil, didn't you?"**

"So the voices are of the ones you've lost." Cris said.

"It seems so." Sirius said quietly.

**"You mean…"**

**"In that room with the archway. They were just lurking out of sight, that's all. You heard them."**

**They looked at each other. Luna was smiling slightly. Cris did not know what to say, or to think; Luna believed so many extraordinary things… yet she had been sure she had heard voices behind the veil, too.**

**"Are you sure you don't want me to help you look for your stuff?" she said.**

**"Oh, no," said Luna. "No, I think I'll just go down and have some pudding and wait for it all to turn up… it always does in the end… well, have a nice holiday Cris."**

**"Yeah… yeah, you too."**

**She walked away from her and, as she watched her go, she found that the terrible weight in her stomach- seemed to have lessened slightly.**

"Talking about things helps, but that isn't what you should talk about." Mrs. Weasley said.

"I know," Cris whispered.

**The journey home on the Hogwarts Express next day was eventful in several ways. Firstly Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, who had clearly been waiting all week for the opportunity to strike without teacher witnesses, attempted to ambush Cris halfway down the train as she made her way back from the toilet. The attack might have succeeded had it not been for the fact that they unwittingly chose to stage the attack right outside a compartment full of D.A. members, who saw what was happening through the glass and rose as one to rush to Cris' aid. **

"That was very stupid of you." Tonks said.

"No kidding, I hope we get what we deserve." Draco said.

**By the time Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot had finished using a wide variety of the hexes and jinxes Cris had taught them, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle resembled nothing so much as three gigantic slugs**

"Damn, you really should be a Defense Teacher." Draco said. Cris just smiled, she would like too maybe after her oldest three were out of Hogwarts.

**squeezed into Hogwarts uniforms as Cris, Ernie and Justin hoisted them into the luggage rack and left them there to ooze.**

**"I must say, I'm looking forward to seeing Malfoy's mother's face when he gets off the train," said Ernie, with some satisfaction, as he watched Malfoy squirm above him. Ernie had never quite got over the indignity of Malfoy docking points from Hufflepuff during his brief spell as a member of the Inquisitorial Squad.**

**"Goyle's Mum'll be really pleased, though," said Ron, who had come to investigate the source of the commotion. "He's loads better looking now… anyway, Cris, the food trolley's just stopped if you want anything…"**

**Cris thanked the others and accompanied Ron back to their compartment, where she bought a large pile of cauldron cakes and pumpkin pasties. Hermione was reading the Daily Prophet again, Ginny was doing a quiz in The Quibbler and Neville was stroking his Mimbulus mimbletonia, which had grown a great deal over the year and now made odd crooning noises when touched.**

"That means it's almost an adult." Neville and Alice said.

"Professor Longbottom is back." James whispered to Scarlett who chuckled and nodded.

**Cris and Ron whiled away most of the journey playing wizard chess while Hermione read out snippets from the Prophet. It was now full of articles about how to repel Dementors, attempts by the Ministry to track down Death Eaters and hysterical letters claiming that the writer had seen Lord Voldemort walking past their house that very morning… **

"Okay, that last one is most definitely false." Cris said.

"Yep," Sirius said.

**"It hasn't really started yet," sighed Hermione gloomily, folding up the newspaper again. "But it won't be long now…"**

**"Hey, Cris," said Ron softly, nodding towards the glass window on to the corridor.**

**Cris looked around. Cho was passing, accompanied by Marietta Edgecombe, who was wearing a balaclava. Her and Cho's eyes met for a moment. Cho looked angry and walked off with her friend. Cris looked back down in time to see her pawn being chased out of his square by one of Ron's knights. **

"I don't know why I play agains you, you always beat me." Cris said.

"It's to help you." Ron said.

"Really?" Cris asked.

"No not really." Ron said with a laugh.

**"What's - er - going on between you two, anyway?" Ron asked quietly.**

**"We had a fight about her friend," said Cris truthfully.**

**"I - er - heard she's going out with someone else now," said Hermione tentatively.**

**"Who's she with now, anyway?" Ron asked Hermione, but it was Ginny who answered.**

**"Michael Corner," she said.**

"Huh, we must have broken up after the one game against them." Ginny said.

"He does seem the type." Charlie said.

**"Michael - but –" said Ron, craning around in his seat to stare at her. "But you were going out with him!"**

**"Not anymore," said Ginny resolutely. "He didn't like Gryffindor beating Ravenclaw at Quidditch, and got really sulky, so I ditched him and he ran off to comfort Cho instead." She scratched her nose absently with the end of her quill, turned The Quibbler upside-down and began marking her answers. Ron looked highly delighted.**

**"Well, I always thought he was a bit of an idiot," he said, prodding his queen forwards towards Cris' quivering castle. "Good for you. Just choose someone - better - next time."**

**He cast Neville an oddly furtive look as he said it. **

Neville blushed brightly at that and Ginny kissed his cheek.

**"Well, I've chosen Dean Thomas, would you say he's better?" asked Ginny vaguely.**

"What!" cried the room even Ginny.

"Well, he is nice." Ginny said.

"I wonder when we get together." Neville said.

"You'll have to find out for yourself." Keiran said with a smile.

**"WHAT?" shouted Ron, upending the chessboard: Crookshanks went plunging after the pieces and Hedwig and Pigwidgeon twittered and hooted angrily from overhead.**

**As the train slowed down in the approach to King's Cross, Cris thought she had never wanted to leave it less. She even wondered fleetingly what would happen if she simply refused to get off, but remained stubbornly sitting there until the first of September, when it would take her back to Hogwarts. When it finally puffed to a standstill, however, she lifted down Hedwig's cage and prepared to drag her trunk from the train as usual.**

**When the ticket inspector signaled to Cris, Ron and Hermione that it was safe to walk through the magical barrier between platforms nine and ten, however, she found a surprise awaiting her on the other side: a group of people standing there to greet her who she had not expected at all.**

**There was Mad-Eye Moody, looking quite as sinister with his bowler hat pulled low over his magical eye as he would have done without it, his gnarled hands clutching a long staff, his body wrapped in a voluminous traveling cloak. Tonks**

"Yah! I'm out of the hospital. I hate hospital stays." Tonks said.

"You and me both." Cris said.

**stood just behind him, her bright bubble-gum pink hair gleaming in the sunlight filtering through the dirty glass of the station ceiling, wearing heavily patched jeans and a bright purple T-shirt bearing the legend The Weird Sisters. Next to Tonks was Remus, his face pale, his hair graying, a long and threadbare overcoat covering a shabby jumper and trousers. Robin and Sirius were there two with little baby Keiran in Robin's arms and they were both smiling at her. At the front of the group stood Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, dressed in their Muggle best, and Fred and George, who were both wearing brand-new jackets in some lurid green, scaly material. **

"Dragon skin, you two must be doing really well for yourselves." Charlie said.

**Cris smiled and threw herself at the twins. She ignored the catcalls from Sirius and Ron as she kissed them. **

"This should be good." Sirius said with a big grin.

"**Alright, alright, off my goddaughter now." Sirius said. Fred and George let her go as she went to hug Sirius and Robin and gently kiss Keiran's forehead.**

**"Ron, Ginny!" called Mrs. Weasley, hurrying forwards and hugging her children tightly "Oh, and Cris dear - how are you?"**

**"Okay," said Cris, as she pulled her into a tight embrace. Over her shoulder she saw Ron goggling at the twins' new clothes.**

"I think I wasn't expecting them to do so well." Ron said.

"Never underestimate us little bro." Fred said.

"I've learned that." Ron said.

"Good," George said.

**"What are they supposed to be?" he asked, pointing at the jackets.**

**"Finest dragonskin, little bro'," said Fred, giving his zip a little tweak. "Business is booming and we thought we'd treat ourselves."**

**"Hello, Cris" said Remus, as Mrs. Weasley let go of Cris and turned to greet Hermione.**

**"Hi," said Cris "I didn't expect… what are you all doing here?"**

**"Well," said Remus with a slight smile, "we thought we might have a little chat with your aunt and uncle before letting them take you home."**

"**I'm not sure if that's a good idea." Cris said. **

"**Don't worry, you have the mirror, if anything happens just call me." Sirius said.**

"Good, tell them whose boss." Ginny said.

"We'll try," Tonks said with a smile.

**"Oh, I think it is," growled Moody, who had limped a little closer. "That'll be them, will it, Potter?"**

**He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder; his magical eye was evidently peering through the back of his head and his bowler hat. Cris leaned an inch or so to the left to see where Mad-Eye was pointing and there, sure enough, were the three Dursley's, who looked positively appalled to see Cris' reception committee. Sirius especially, Uncle Vernon kept looking around to see if there was an easy escape route.**

"Well we do make one hell of a sight." Sirius said.

"I wonder what they were thinking." Cris said.

**"Ah, Cris" said Mr. Weasley, turning from Hermione's parents, who he had just greeted enthusiastically, and who were now taking it in turns to hug Hermione. "Well - shall we do it, then?"**

**"Yeah, I reckon so, Arthur," said Moody. **

**He and Mr. Weasley took the lead across the station towards the Dursley's, who were apparently rooted to the floor. Hermione disengaged herself gently from her mother to join the group.**

**"Good afternoon," said Mr. Weasley pleasantly to Uncle Vernon as he came to a halt right in front of him. "You might remember me, my name's Arthur Weasley."**

**As Mr. Weasley had single-handedly demolished most of the Dursley's living room two years previously, Cris would have been very surprised if Uncle Vernon had forgotten him. Sure enough, Uncle Vernon turned a deeper shade of puce and glared at Mr. Weasley, but chose not to say anything, partly, perhaps, because the Dursley's were outnumbered two to one. Aunt Petunia looked both frightened and embarrassed; she kept glancing around, as though terrified somebody she knew would see her in such company. Dudley, meanwhile, seemed to be trying to look small and insignificant, a feat at which he was failing extravagantly.**

**"We thought we'd just have a few words with you about Cris," said Mr. Weasley, still smiling.**

**"Yeah," growled Moody. "About how she's treated when she's at your place."**

**Uncle Vernon's moustache seemed to bristle with indignation. Possibly because the bowler hat gave him the entirely mistaken impression that he was dealing with a kindred spirit, he addressed himself to Moody.**

**"I am not aware that it is any of your business what goes on in my house -"**

**"I expect what you're not aware of would fill several books, Dursley," growled Moody.**

"It seems it has." Cris said.

**"Anyway, that's not the point," interjected Tonks, whose pink hair seemed to offend Aunt Petunia more than all the rest put together, **

"She doesn't like different, you know, I should keep my purple to see how she reacts." Cris said.

"I would love to see it." Gwen said. Cris and Gwen shared a smile and Gwen continued.

**for she closed her eyes rather than look at her. "The point is, if we find out you've been horrible to Cris –"**

**"- And make no mistake, we'll hear about it," added Remus pleasantly.**

**"Yes," said Mr. Weasley, "even if you won't let Cris use the fellytone –"**

"Telephone." Lily, Gwen, Cris and Hermione said.

"Right," Mr. Weasley said.

**"Telephone," whispered Hermione.**

**"- Yeah, if we get any hint that Potter's been mistreated in any way, you'll have us to answer to," said Moody.**

**Uncle Vernon swelled ominously. His sense of outrage seemed to outweigh even his fear of this bunch of oddballs.**

**"Are you threatening me, sir?" he said, so loudly that passers-by actually turned to stare.**

"Yes, yes we are." Tonks said pleasantly.

**"Yes, I am," said Mad-Eye, who seemed rather pleased that Uncle Vernon had grasped this fact so quickly.**

**"And do I look like the kind of man who can be intimidated?" barked Uncle Vernon.**

"Uncle Vernon doesn't intimidate easily, so good luck with that." Cris said.

"We won't need luck, just magic." Sirius said.

**"Well…" said Moody, pushing back his bowler hat to reveal his sinisterly revolving magical eye.**

**Uncle Vernon leapt backwards in horror and collided painfully with a luggage trolley. "Yes, I'd have to say you do, Dursley."**

**He turned away from Uncle Vernon to survey Cris.**

**"So, Potter… give us a shout if you need us. If we don't hear from you for three days in a row, we'll send someone along…"**

"So I get out of there earlier? That's brilliant!" Cris exclaimed.

"What about me?" Gwen asked.

"I'm sure we'll hang out, we do every summer." Cris said.

"Those are pretty brilliant summers." Gwen said.

"You better not get any more tattoos young lady." Mrs. Weasley said. Cris just nodded though Mrs. Weasley didn't say anything about piercings.

**Aunt Petunia whimpered piteously. It could not have been plainer that she was thinking of what the neighbors would say if they caught sight of these people marching up the garden path. **

"We should do it anyway." Sirius said with his mischievous smirk.

**"Bye, then, Potter," said Moody, grasping Cris' shoulder for a moment with a gnarled hand.**

**"Take care, Cris," said Remus quietly. "Keep in touch."**

**"Cris, we'll have you away from there as soon as we can," Mrs. Weasley whispered, hugging her again.**

**"We'll see you soon, mate," said Ron anxiously, giving her a quick.**

**"Really soon, Cris" said Hermione earnestly. "We promise." **

"**Remember the mirror pup, and we'll send you pictures." Sirius said.**

**Cris nodded. She somehow could not find words to tell them what it meant to her, to see them all ranged there, on her side. Instead, she smiled, raised a hand in farewell, turned around and led the way out of the station towards the sunlit street, with Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley hurrying along in her wake. **

"That's it," Gwen said closing the book.

"That's the fifth year." Keiran said.

"That sucks." Cris said.

"Sixth will only be worse most likely." Ron said.

"Great I don't want to think about it." Cris said.

"Well, we don't have to start it until tomorrow so we can do that opposite day you were talking about." Hermione said. Cris grinned and jumped up and grabbed Gwen and went to the room leaving everyone in there.


End file.
